


Corpse Party: Blood Drive Afterstory

by CorpsePartyFanatic



Category: Corpse Party (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-13 06:25:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15358227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorpsePartyFanatic/pseuds/CorpsePartyFanatic
Summary: Does no one remember them?Where will fate lead these split friends?How will their lives change after what happened in Corpse Party: Blood Drive?Will they move on from the past?Will they be haunted from the memories forever?Tune in for these answers!This is my first story, I hope y'all enjoy.  Includes Ayushiki and slight Satomi.





	1. Recap (Game's End)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there, and thank you for stopping by my story. This is my first out of many planned stories that I will be writing about Corpse Party. Most of my stories will be fanfiction, and will vary between game continuations, alternate endings, ships, and many more! Stay tuned for upcoming stories, and I hope you enjoy. Please leave comments on how it was, any criticism will be welcome. Thank you, and enjoy!

**End of Corpse Party: Blood Drive**

"...Everybody, get out... Hurry... There's a hole leading back to the real world at the school's enterenceway!" I then picked up the flesh I'd spit out and tried to cram it back into my mouth. I was determined to keep it down! ...It would have been a lot easier if it hadn't been glaring at me from my hands, however.

"Wait! Stop! Just... Stop!" ...I turned to Kishinuma, who was practically begging me not to go through with this. And it's not like I wanted to! I just... had to...

"Stop this. Please! We don't want you to disappear from our lives! Not without a fight!"

I smiled... The sentiment was truly heartwarming "You always did look out for me... Don't think I didn't notice! Even if you forget I exist, I'll never forget you. Kishinuma." ... Kishinuma's eyes swelled up with tears "...When you patted me on the head... it made me really happy." ...I smiled again, even when tears were streaming down my face

*Ayumi eats more of the nirvana, which, surprisingly, has great effect*

"Stop... Stop doing that! GODDAMMIT ALL!" Kishinuma collapsed to his knees

*Earthquakes start to occur, as the school begins to break down*

"Come on. Get up. Do you want her death to be in vain? It's not like we can stop her either way, not from here."

"Class rep..." Naomi says sobbing.

"I'll never forget you. Shinozaki. No matter what," Satoshi replies.

Before he left the area, Kishinuma looked back one last time. But I was out of sight at that point.

*While running, Kishinuma notices that Mitsuo died as well*

Near the doorway "Kishinuma? What's wrong?"

"Is she... just going to be erased from all our minds?"

"Huh?"

"What's going to happen when she eats the entire Nirvana? Will the world actually be able to go back to normal?"

"Yoshiki, what are you doing?! If we don't hurry-"

"Right now, she's in there. She's inside the Nirvana!"

"...?! Yoshiki! Wait!"

He turned back towards the ruins of Heavenly Host and run off "You guys get the hell out of here!"

*The ceiling breaks down, blocking the path that Yoshiki run down*

"...?!"

*They use the everafter stones to escape the nirvana*

"In a place that exists outside of this world... a curse built upon darkness and sorrow swept through like a river overflowing its banks into the valley below. But the flood was damned through the blood sacrifice of a truly benevolent girl... whose very existence was lost in the process. The fate to die cannot be overturned... but the former existence of your sadly departed friends as been restored to this reality. Their memories, their achievements... From that, however... a new sorrow floods the world... and the healing process begins anew. The baton of guardian has been passed down from one generation to the next... and somewhere in this world, I'm certain she must still bear it, protecting us all from deep under cover of night. She's been erased from all our memories, however, so... wherever she is, there can never truly be any communication between us again. But in this future where countless worlds and fates have merged... I'm certain we'll see her again."

(This would be a good place to stop as it foreshadows my fanfiction well, especially with the last sentence... there is a small part more which I personally like, because I absolutely love Ayumi x Yoshiki)

And here I sat... in my own house... in Hinoe's room... in the corner, in a wheelchair... expressionless and empty... with the Book of Shadows on my lap.

"...Book of Shadows... can use... make everyone... happy... will protect... everyone... best as I... even if it's... by myself..."

*Doorbell rings*

The blue-white stones were tossed up into the air, where they danced a bit before tumbling back down. I could easily catch them with one hand. I looked up at the white house in front of me and smiled a toothy grin. And I held onto those stones tightly... for they were my precious Everafter Stones...

"Finally... I found it!"


	2. Sealing the Nirvana

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry for the last "chapter", I understand it was boring, it was just what happened at the game only after all. I promise you the chapters for this story from now on will be more exciting and fun to read (I hope). Please comment and criticize, it can only get better from now. Bold marks the setting and PoV, underline marks minor setting changes, such as scene changes within the bigger setting, * marks events occurring in the scene, ( ) marks author commentary, and italicize means thoughts of a person. Thank you, and enjoy.

**Ruins of Heavenly Host - Yoshiki PoV**

 

“Shinozaki! Where are you? I’ve come back for you…”

 

_ Dammit Shinozaki… why did you choose to stay here? We don’t want to forget you… not like this… _

 

“Shinozaki! Oh right, I need to find Mitsuo’s body… it should have the Everafter stones I need to take Shinozaki back to the real world.”

 

_ I saw it while I was running with Satoshi… I hope the corpse is still there… _

 

Second Floor of the Second Wing

 

“Where is it… I thought I saw it here… Did it get crushed under the rub-”

 

*The school shakes more, floors collapse, walls crumble, and parts of the ceiling fall down*

 

“God damn it, another earthquake.  Shinozaki… please be fine…”

 

_ Where is the corpse dammit, I cannot be wasting time here… Shinozaki needs me… _

 

I searched this whole area where I saw, at least where I thought I saw Mitsuo’s corpse.  Maybe the corpse is under all of the rubble down below. After I digged around a bit more, I spotted a piece of clothing under rubble nearby.

 

_ That… looks like that freak’s weird jacket…  _

 

I dug under the rubble where I saw that piece of clothing, and sure enough, Mitsuo’s corpse was there.  It was missing its head as well as the hood of the jacket, just like something ripped them apart from the whole.  I looked through his jacket pockets first, but only found gum as well as other junk.

 

_ God damn it, did it drop somewhere during the earthquakes? Where are - _

 

I searched in the pants pockets, and I felt two smooth objects.  With a little bit of effort, I pulled them out, and, as I expected, came out the Everafter stones.

 

“Ah, here they are! Finally, let’s go ho- Ahhhhh!”

 

*The floor breaks beneath Yoshiki, causing him to fall to the first floor*

 

“Augh… I don’t have time for this… At least I don’t have to waste time getting back down, heh.”

 

Although that fall hurt a little, I couldn’t let that to stop me.  Not now, not ever. Shinozaki’s life is at stake here, and I will never let anything stop me helping Shinozaki get out of those situations.  I made a promise long ago, when we came here when we did that charm Shinozaki proposed. I tried to run as fast to where we came from, and luckily, I was able to reach the place we entered to find Shinozaki.

 

“Shinozaki! You in there?” No response.  “Shinozaki!”

 

_ Can she hear me…? Is she hurt…? Damnit, if anything happened to you… no, let’s not think that way.  She’ll be fine… I know her. Please be fine… Shinozaki. _

 

I continued down this path through the place I remembered to have leaving when running with Satoshi and the others.  I periodically called out for Shinozaki, although I never got a response. I ran as fast as I could, but it was like this path would never end.  I kept running and running, but it was like I would never reach the end of it. My legs were getting tired, my body was aching all over, but I couldn’t stop.  I knew Shinozaki was in trouble, I knew she needed help. I just… knew. After running for what seemed like ages, I finally reached the end of the path, and the view…

 

“Woah… this room… looks a lot different than it did a while ago… Did Shinozaki cause all this? Did she really… eat the whole Nirvana?  Shinozaki! Where are you? Shino-”

 

_ What did I just step on?  _

 

Looking down, I noticed something brown laying on the floor.  Odd, as everything around was red and meaty, but what is this? Lifting my shoe, I immediately noticed what it was.

 

The Book of Shadows.

 

“You…”

 

The Book of Shadows was lying on the floor, it seemed as if it was staring at me with those emotionless eyes… 

 

“What more do you want from Shinozaki?! Hasn’t she gone through enough already?”

 

“My master hasn’t eaten the whole Nirvana yet.  Master’s job isn’t finished yet.”

 

“Damn it… wait-”

 

I took out my Everafter Stones.  I remember Magari saying something like, “Nirvana, I summon the dead” when I clung onto her to come here… was it that? Damn it, I didn’t remember it clearly… How am I going to escape with Shinozaki without knowing the proper charm?  Oh well, what’s the worst thing that can happen if I chant incorrectly…

 

_ Is the chant correct? I hope it is… Oh well, only one way to find out… _

 

I put the Everafter Stones together, and it started to glow a bit.  Assuming that was my call, I grabbed onto Shinozaki, and chanted:

 

“Nirvana, I summon the-”

 

“I suggest you don’t.”

 

“What do you mean? Don’t you see Shinozaki needs help?  She’s already been through enough, damn it. I won’t… I can’t let her get hurt any more.”

 

“If you leave, all of master’s work would be useless.  The Nirvana would stay intact, and it will regrow, if master doesn’t finish sealing it all.  I suggest you leave, if you want to live.”

 

“...Damn it… I wish I could do something to help her…”

 

I didn’t know what to do… I wanted to leave this hellhole together right now, but the Book of Shadows said that it would undo all of what Shinozaki have done.  I knew if she woke up after I rescued her, she would come back to finish what she started… I know, she is pretty stubborn with this type of stuff… especially when it comes to saving others.  I bet she still thinks she was at fault for this… So, I knew I had to end this here… to keep Shinozaki safe from now on… 

 

_ How can I help Shinozaki, dammit? Think, there must be a way to help her… Wait… back when Shinozaki came back, and said she was going to conceal the Nirvana, the Book of Shadows called Shinozaki a normal person, right? _

 

*Flashback*

 

“...But can a normal person like yourself truly consume this expanded Nirvana?”

 

*Back to reality*

 

_ The Book of Shadows called Shinozaki a “normal person”, does that mean, someone like me can do what she’s doing also? _

 

“Hey, Book of Shadows, what would happen if I were to eat the Nirvana instead of Shinozaki?”

 

“Your existence, just like master’s, would be damaged a lot, and would be erased from the others like master.  Are you willing to give up your existence to help master?”

 

_ So, I would be erased from the others like Shinozaki, huh… Should’ve expected it honestly… Oh well, as long as I have Shinozaki with me… _

 

“Yeah, of course… What do I have to?”

 

“Consume the Nirvana, just like master is doing right now.”

 

“Ok.”

 

I walked towards Shinozaki, and I saw her, continuously eating the Nirvana although it didn’t look like she was conscious, at least didn’t look like herself.  

 

“Shinozaki… You can stop now… I’ve come back to help you… I’m sorry I came so late.  You’ve done a lot, more than enough for us all. Now take a break, I’ll take it from here.”

 

I said this while patting her head.  Then, I carried her body next to the Book of Shadows, and lightly set her down on the floor.

 

“Stay here, I’ll finish the rest.”

 

And so, I walked back to where Shinozaki was, and, well, started to eat the Nirvana.  It was disgusting. I felt like my throat was burning every time I swallowed. My mouth was on fire.  But, I had to continue, for Shinozaki. If she could eat this, so could I. Looking up, I saw the amount that I had to eat.

 

“Alright, let’s do this.”

 


	3. Return to the Real World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed my last chapter! Hopefully you enjoy this chapter, too! Thank you, and enjoy!

 

**Ruins of Heavenly Host - Ayumi’s PoV**

 

How long was I here? I don’t remember.  I can’t feel anything… my whole body is numb.  I can’t see anything either… I think my arms and my mouth is moving, am I eating something?  Where am I? I can’t remember. Why am I here? What do I remember?

 

_ I hope you all escaped fine, Mochida, Nakashima, Yuka, Kishinuma _

 

Right, I came here with them.  Now I remember. I’m sealing the Nirvana, just like Sachiko did before.  I’m doing what’s right. I need to do this for everyone else. Everyone that died because of me… Shinohara, Suzumoto, Morishige, and… Yui Sensei… I’m sorry everyone… I hope I can restore you all now… to where you all deserve to be.

 

_ “I’ll never forget you. Shinozaki. No matter what,” _

 

Why would you say that, Satoshi? What do you mean by- oh, right… the Book of Shadows said my existence would disappear.  Oh well, this is for you guys, I will never forget you guys, Mochida, Nakashima, Yuka, Kishinuma. 

 

_ “Stop this. Please! We don’t want you to disappear from our lives! Not without a fight!” _

 

Kishinuma.  Back then, I said to him, “You always did look out for me… Don’t think I didn’t notice!  Even if you forget I exist, I’ll never forget you. Kishinuma.” How long have you liked me? Was it since the first time we came to Heavenly Host after doing the charm I proposed? You protected me there, too, risked your life multiple times, for me.  How did I not know for a long time? I’m sorry, Kishinuma… if I had known sooner, I would have been nicer to you…

 

_ “What I mean is I really like you, Shinozaki!” _

 

Come to think of it, you did tell me that you liked me back then when you and I got sent back to the real world… Back then, I was just angry at you for saying that I only cared for Mochida… I mean, I kind of was, but not only him.  But, you still came back to Heavenly Host afterwards. Kishinuma…

 

“Shinozaki!”

 

_ Ki… Kishinuma? Why am I hearing you? Didn’t you go back with the others?  You have to, you lost so much because of me… _

 

Weird… my body doesn’t hurt so much anymore… Is it because I’m thinking about Kishinuma?  You know, Kishinuma… I really liked it when you patted my head before… I should’ve noticed you faster… My love for Mochida only caused you harm… I’m sorry.  

 

_ Sorry Kishinuma, with me gone, you don’t have to get hurt anymore… I’m sorry I haven’t noticed you- _

 

I felt something.  I don’t know how, but I just did.  Is my job done? No. Is it a memory? No.  Then what is it? What am I feeling? 

 

“Shinozaki… You can stop now… I’ve come back to help you… I’m sorry I came so late.  You’ve done a lot, more than enough for us all. Now take a break, I’ll take it from here.”

 

_ A pat on my head? Kishinuma? Why… why are you still here? You should have left.  Why did you come back for me, even if I wasn’t ever nice to you… Hey- _

 

I felt my body get lifted off the ground.  I tried to fight back, but I couldn't. I couldn’t move… I wanted to tell Kishinuma to leave… but I couldn’t speak either.  I felt my body being laid down somewhere.

 

“Stay here, I’ll finish the rest.”

 

_ Kishinuma…? What are you going to… No, please don’t tell me you’re going to eat the Nirvana… You won’t be remembered by the others… Stop… I don’t want you to get more hurt because of me. _

 

My whole body felt like it was burning again.  I couldn’t say anything… do anything… I was always like this, and Kishinuma was always there for me to help… I felt dizzy, nauseous, sick… Before passing out, the last thing I heard… was…

 

“Alright, let’s do this.”

 

After a while

 

_ Ugh… How long… was I out for? Kishinuma…  _

 

**Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

“Ugh… how much more is left to eat… It feels like it’s never going to end.”

 

I looked up.  Surprisingly… it was much less than before.  Damn, Shinozaki… you must have eaten a lot… but don’t worry, you won’t have to eat it anymore.  Thinking of Shinozaki… I glanced back where I laid her, next to the Book of Shadows, and, as expected, she was laying there, exactly where I put her, next to the Book of Shadows.

 

_ Nothing will stop me now.  You hear me, nothing. I’ll eat the rest of you.  I’ll free Shinozaki from here. I’ll escape with her, and to do that, I need to eat you.  Come at me- _

 

What was I going to say?  Weird, was I… losing my mind?  Come to think of it, I don’t think I feel anything anymore.  My arms and mouth was like a machine, I wasn’t even thinking anymore, I didn’t know what I was doing anymore, but my arms kept moving, my mouth kept chewing, and this process was happening all over again.  This was the last thing I thought before I blacked out.

 

After more time past

 

“Ah!”

 

I woke up in a place I didn’t know… at least I didn’t think I knew it.  My head hurt a bit, but I could feel my body again. Was this over? Can I go back with Shinozaki now?  I was laying next to Shinozaki and the Book of Shadows when I woke up. How did I get here?

 

“Shinozaki, are you ok?”

 

I shook Shinozaki a bit to see if she’d wake up, but she didn’t.  She had a light pulse and was breathing lightly, but that’s all I needed to know.  At least she was still alive.

 

_ At least Shinozaki’s alive… We can go back now… Shinozaki… with these Everafter Stones.  Let’s get you home, Shinozaki. _

 

“Hey… Book of Shadows?  Can we go back now?”

 

“Yes, for you have fulfilled master’s remaining duty.  However, the cost has been shared amongst both of you. Both you and master’s existences has been erased.  However, as both of your existences aren’t completely erased as you shared the costs, there is a chance that those who knew you can recover their memories of you. I, however, wouldn’t advise in trying to make it happen, as it is a slim chance.”

 

“Shinozaki… I don’t know if you heard this, but we can get out of here now, and there is a small chance to get our friends back. Isn’t that nice to hear? I’ll make sure I can get our friends back, just wait and see, Shinozaki.”

 

“Really intriguing, you have sacrificed so much for my master.  Is there something special between you two?”

 

“Er, no… kind of.  Anyways, we can get out of here now, right? Let’s go, Shinozaki.”

 

Seriously, I didn’t expect a book to ask me that question… How was I supposed to answer that?  Anyways, we were finally able to leave here. I took out my Everafter Stones, put the Book of Shadows between my arms, grabbed onto Shinozaki, and put the Everafter Stones, and chanted:

 

“Nirvana, I summon the dead!”


	4. Recovered Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you’re enjoying my series. This is my first work of the many work I plan to do, and I promise you, it will get better as time passes by. Stay tuned in, thanks!

 

**Saturday, Kisaragi Academy - Yoshiki PoV**

 

“Huh? Where are we? Shinozaki, are you ok? We made it back, you know…”

 

I was still holding the Book of Shadows, so I assumed Shinozaki would be nearby.  I got up, and looked around, both for Shinozaki and for clues to where we were. Luckily, my phone still had a slight bit of battery left, so I flipped it open, and I saw that it was Saturday pretty early in the morning.  That meant we were in there for a couple days. I started walking around the place where I woke up.

 

_ Damn, we’ve been in there for a couple days?  I hope the others got out fine after I ran back for Shinozaki there.  Where is Shinozaki? _

 

“Shinozaki! Where are you?  We made it out, you know.”

 

I walked around the halls of this place, but it seemed awfully familiar, like I used to see it everyday.  I opened the doors to a classroom labeled 2-9, and inside, I found Shinozaki in the middle of the room that also looked very familiar.

 

“Shinozaki! Are you okay?  Wait, this room, classroom 2-9, this was our homeroom! Does that mean, we are at Kisaragi Academy?”

 

I entered the room, and it sure was our old homeroom, the very room where this whole thing happened after Shinozaki introduced us the charm that Naho put on her blog, which was a whole lie, and caused us Shinohara, Morishige, Suzumoto, and Yui sensei’s lives…  I went to Shinozaki, checked her pulse, and I decided to go to a hospital nearby, we both could use some help.

 

“I suggest you look in the yearbook on that table.”

 

“Huh? What do you mean, Book of Shadows?”

 

“If you do, you can see what you and master have accomplished.”

 

“Okay, if you say so…”

 

So, before leaving, I took a quick look at the school yearbook, and sure enough, I could see what the Book of Shadows was meaning.  The photos of our dead friends and our teacher returned, which meant the world remembered them now. But, I also noticed one more thing.  Shinozaki and I weren’t anywhere to be seen in the photos, not even in our class photo.

 

“This…”

 

“Yes, your friend’s existence is back to this world, in exchange for you and master’s existences.”

 

“Well, I hope you’re right, I hope the other’s memories are back, I’m sure that’s what Shinozaki wanted from the beginning.”

 

With that, I closed the yearbook, and left the classroom, but not looking back one more time, at the memories we made together, and felt a bit sad knowing that they won’t know us anymore.  But, I knew I still had Shinozaki, and I couldn’t lose her also, so I hastily walked through the halls, and left for the nearby hospital. Outside, at the school gates, there was a notice hung up, and after leaving the gates, I read the notice, which read:

 

“Kisaragi High School Notice to school faculty and students.  Due to the recent events in Japan, Kisaragi High will be closed the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  On Thursday, there will be no class, instead, we will be having a open funeral for those that lost their lives due to this incident.  We are deeply sorry for those who were affected by this. By, Kisaragi High School Administration.”

 

_ So, the school is having a funeral, huh.  It’s an open funeral, meaning anyone could be there.  Maybe, if Shinozaki feels better, we could go as well, to mourn for our lost friends…  _

 

I let that thought hang in my mind, and I left for the hospital.  At the hospital, I walked in, hoping no one will question us too much.

 

**Satoshi’s House - Naomi’s PoV**

 

“Satoshi! Open up!”

 

“Hello, Naomi onee-chan!”

 

“Yuka chan, where’s Satoshi?”

 

“Onii-chan is still getting ready, he seemed very excited for today!”

 

“Oh, is he now?  How are you doing, Yuka chan, you know… with all that happened at Heavenly Host?”

 

“I’m feeling a lot better, as a matter of fact.  Satsuki said she was going to come over later today, and we have a lot of things planned for today!”

 

“That’s good to hear…”

 

I was happy that Yuka was doing okay… But after escaping that school, everyone’s memories was back.  Seiko… was remembered by my parents again, I was going to go visit their house with Satoshi later today… if Satoshi came out already.  He was surely taking his time.

 

“Naomi? You’re here already?”

 

“You took your time.  Let’s go already, I have a lot planned for us today.”

 

“Huh…? Alright, let’s go. See you later, Yuka chan.”

 

“Yeah.  Oh, also, onii-chan, take these scented beads! It will keep you and Naomi onee-chan safe!”

 

“It’s-”

 

“Thanks, Yuka chan!  I’ll make sure your onii-chan is safe and sound.”

 

Taking the scented beads from Yuka, I put it in Satoshi’s pocket.  Knowing that Yuka would throw a fit if Satoshi didn’t take it, I took it for him.  I mean, there wasn’t any harm in taking them also so… 

 

“Thanks, Yuka.  Make sure to lock the door, and not let any strangers in.”

 

“Okay!  Bye bye onii-chan! Onee-chan!”

 

“Bye!”

 

“See you later.”

 

Leaving Satoshi’s house, we both walked down the street, down a familiar road I used to walk down every day, with Seiko… I had something to show Satoshi.

 

“How’s your eye, Naomi?”

 

“Oh, the doctor said it would get better soon.  The doctor said the eye is healing, and more about all that technical and scientific stuff.”

 

“Heh, you have to learn all that too, you know, to be a nurse.”

 

“Yeah, I know…”

 

“Anyways, where are you taking me?”

 

“You’ll see.  We’re almost there.”

 

We kept walking down for a couple more minutes.  A moment later, we were right across from our school.  We were going to cross, when we saw two people walk out of the school, and for some reason, me and Satoshi hid behind a wall nearby.  I don’t know why, we just did. There was a blond haired boy, and was carrying a girl with two ponytails, and was carrying a book about the size of an encyclopedia.

 

“Do you know them, Satoshi?  They came out from our school…”

 

“I don’t recognize them… You think that girl is hurt?  That boy is carrying her…”

 

“She doesn’t look hurt from here… Should we offer them our help?”

 

“Yeah let’s -”

 

When we were going to go across to help them, they turned around, and we hid again, which I didn’t know why.  Anyways, when we went out of cover, we watched them walk down the street. I was wondering why we didn’t help them… 

 

“They’re gone… I hope they’re fine… Anyways, why did you bring me to our school?”

 

“Ah! Here, read the notice on the gate! There’s good news - well, not good news, but it’s still better than before!”

 

“Hmm…?  Ah, the world… remembers them, all that died there… They’re back… This is good news!  I need to tell Yuka this later.”

  
“Yeah, good news, isn’t it?  Where should we go now?”

 

“Hmm… Oh, I know a good place… let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was chapter 3 of my series. I wanted to include a bit of the other characters that returned from Heavenly Host after Blood Drive happened, which I did. I hope the story is fine! Thanks for reading, and tune in for the next chapter!


	5. Hospitalization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you’re enjoying the story so far. I know it isn’t the best, as it is my first story I have written, but forgive me, I promise I’ll get better! Anyways, hope you enjoy chapter 5.

 

**At the hospital - Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

I sat down in the reception area, and I laid Shinozaki right next to me.  The receptionist told me to wait, and to fill out these forms… I hoped this doesn’t cost too much money…  I filled out most of the things for both Shinozaki and myself. Some things, such as Shinozaki’s home address, I had to put my own apartment’s address because I didn’t know her address.  I hope it would be fine, for now.

 

“Here are the papers.  How much would the checkup cost?”

 

“Well, normally, it would cost about… 5,500 yen each for kids your age for a normal checkup, but since this is your first time here, how about we settle for 7,000 yen for both of you? Especially because it is your first time here.”

 

“Thank you so much!  I can’t thank you enough for this.  Oh, and how much would a wheelchair cost?”

 

“For rentals, it would cost you about 2,500 yen per month, in good condition when returned.  If not, you would need to pay a fine for the repairs.”

 

“Okay, thank you.  Here is 10,000 yen, for the checkup and this month’s rental fee.  You can keep the change for your kind hospitality.”

 

“No problem, I will call you over when a doctor is available to see you.  I hope you two feel better.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

I went back to Shinozaki, who was still sleeping on the chairs, and sat next to her.  Thankfully, the receptionist here was kid to us, I was able to afford all the cost right now, although that means I would have to use my money more carefully from now on.  I need to find a new job after I leave this hospital… 

 

_ Shinozaki… I hope you’re fine, please wake up, for me, for all of us…  _

 

**??? - Ayumi’s PoV**

 

Where was I?  Was I alive? Was I dreaming?  What happened? The last thing I remember was I was at the school, eating the nirvana, and I heard Kishinuma, and I passed out…  What happened after that? My head hurts trying to think about what happened… My body feels a lot better, however, doesn’t hurt too much… I don’t hear anything, I don’t see anything, I don’t feel anything.  Am I… dead? Is Kishinuma dead, too? Or did he leave before what happened? I hope you did, Kishinuma… 

 

_ Kishinuma… what happened?  I want to see you again, I want you to pat my head again.  I’m sorry I was so blind to your feelings. I hope you didn’t die, Kishinuma… You deserve more than that, more than me… _

 

And, with that thought lingering in my mind, I passed out again.

 

**Perfect Life Productions Co., Inc. - Aiko’s PoV**

 

I entered the elevator, and pressed the highest number on the panel.  After the incident at Heavenly Host, I became the new CEO of my sister’s company.  Aiko Kuon, my sister, who started this company, died there, and now, here I was, continuing the company.

 

“Ding!”

 

I reached the upper floor, and walked to my office.  I said hello to the people who assisted me, as I was still young and learning how to be a CEO.  After I entered my office, my secretary followed me in, and laid a cup of coffee on my desk. I sat down, and started to organize my table.

 

“Ma’am, here is your schedule for today.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

“Call us if you need anything, ma’am.”

 

The secretary left the room, and as soon as the door closed, I stood up, and walked towards the glass window, and I looked out.

 

_ Kuon… Naho… Sayaka… Inumaru… I want to see you all again…  _

 

I picked up my photo with Naho and Sayaka, that day was fun… Oh, how much I would give up to experience that again.

 

“Ma’am, the meeting with the representatives are ready.”

 

“Okay, I’ll be right out.”

 

_ Wish me luck, Kuon, hopefully I can run this company as well as you could. _

 

**Hospital - Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

I rolled the wheelchair over, and carefully put Shinozaki on the wheelchair.  I carefully put the wheelchair next to my seat, and I sat down, and patted her head.  I checked for her pulse once again, and I was relieved there was a slight pulse.

 

“Mr. Kishinuma, the doctor is ready to see you and your friend, please follow me.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Doctor’s Office

 

“So, Mr. Kishinuma, what concern brings you here?”

 

“My friend, Shinozaki, hasn’t woken up in the previous couple hours, even if I tried.  There’s still a pulse, but I felt like something was wrong, so I brought her to the hospital.”

 

“Do you know what happened?”

 

“...” 

 

_ Of course I knew what happened, but I don’t know if you would understand… What do I do?  Should I lie? Well, I can’t tell him what happened, so… _

 

“No, when I visited her house, I saw her on the floor, so I thought she was asleep, but when I tried to wake her up, I didn’t get any response.”

 

“Okay, please wait here while I check her body in the room next door.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

15 minutes later

 

“Mr. Kishinuma, I think she should be in the hospital for a couple days.”

 

“Is it that serious?”

 

“No, no, your friend is fine, its just that through the tests I have conducted, the results show that she isn’t waking up due to extreme dehydration, malnutrition, and exhaustion.  After a couple days, she should be able to wake up and leave. The receptionist was kind enough to not charge you further for the stay.”

 

“Thank you.  So, which room should I-”

 

“Before you leave, I’m going to have a look at you also, you seem to be quite exhausted as well.”

 

“Oh, okay…”

 

15 minutes later

 

“There, that’s the last cut.  I’ll call one of the nurses to take you to her room.”

 

“Thank you, doctor.”

 

“No problem.  I hope your friend will wake up soon, she’ll be grateful to have a gentleman like you take care of her.”

 

“Ah…”

 

“Oh, also, when she wakes up, bring her to me.  I want to do some final checks afterwards to see that she’s fine to be able to leave the hospital.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Hospital Room #209

 

“Feel free to call us by pressing this button, remember, there is nothing more important than your or your friend’s health here, okay?”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Have a good night.”

 

The nurse put all the needles in Shinozaki for her health, and set up all the machines to make sure she was healthy.  The doctor said I was fine, just had a few cuts and bruises, but otherwise fine, he told me to drink a lot of water, and get enough food to eat.  I put a blanket over Shinozaki, and I got up to leave.

 

“I’ll be back soon, Shinozaki… There’s something I need to do.  Hope you feel better soon, Shinozaki.”

 

Then, I did something I might regret for the rest of my life.  I kissed Shinozaki on the cheek before leaving.

 

**??? - Ayumi’s PoV**

 

_ How long was I out for?  Where am I? Was I in my bed? It’s soft here, and quiet.  I want to see everyone again. I want to wake up. I want to leave wherever I was.  Nakashima… Mochida… Yuka… Kishinuma…  _

 

“I’ll be back soon, Shinozaki… There’s something I need to do.  Hope you feel better soon, Shinozaki.”

 

_ Kishinuma…? Don’t leave me, please, I want to be with you.  I want to stay with you. Kishinuma… I think… I love- _

 

I felt something warm on my cheek, something light, something soft, and it felt good.  I didn't know what it was, but it felt nice. Must be Kishinuma trying to help me again. 

 

_ I love you, Kishinuma _

 

And I fell asleep again.


	6. Meeting Old Friends

**Outside the hospital - Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

I kissed Shinozaki.  I don’t know what to feel about this, she is the one person I love, but I don’t know if I should’ve kissed her when she was unconscious.  Oh well, I already did, no turning back now. I was walking down the night roads to Shinozaki’s house. I didn’t know why I was going there, but I was going there, it was on the way to my apartment anyways.  

 

_ What should I tell Shinozaki’s parents?  Would they even remember her? I doubt it, but, I guess I should still try… The Book of Shadows did tell me at the hospital that our existence wasn’t completely erased… _

 

*Flashback*

 

“Your and master’s existence has been erased.  However, because you two shared the cost, your existence is still within the people that you know, that includes your parents, your friends, etc. But, for them to recover the existence as well as the memories, would not be a simple task.  Their triggers will be all different, they may come back by chance, they may come back by meeting you, they may start to get memories of you but not know what they are, but if you’re lucky, you may be able to return to the life you always had.”

 

“Is that so?  But, what do you mean that they will get memories of us but not know us?”

 

“Like I said, your existences still remain, just like your memories.  Due to the cost of sealing the Nirvana, the memories have been damaged, reduced, and hidden in their brains.  However, certain events may cause the memories to be released, and they may remember you two, but they won’t know you as your existences have been damaged.”

 

“But, with your triggers, it is still possible to return to the life we lived before, right?”

 

“Yes, it will be hard, but it will be possible.”

 

“That’s good, Shinozaki will like this news.  Thank you, Book of Shadows.”

 

“Why do you go through this much for master?  What is my master to you?”

 

“... Huh?”

 

“You consumed the Nirvana for her, you saved her in the Nirvana, and now, you’ll try to return to the life you and master wanted.  Why are you going through this much for master?”

 

“Because… I love her.”

 

“Is that so… Well, good luck, when you return, there is something I need to tell both you and master.  I will be waiting for you.”

 

*End of flashback*

 

Front of Shinozaki’s house

 

I got here relatively fast, the house was pretty close to my apartment as well as the hospital and Kisaragi Academy.  I didn’t know what to say, but I rung the bell, and I heard someone come to the door, and soon, a man answered me.

 

“Who is this?”

 

“Ah, hello, is this Mr. Shinozaki?”

 

“Yes, it is.  Do you need something?”

 

“I just wanted to ask you something about your daughter.”

 

“...”

 

The man started to sob.  Then, he called his wife, who came over quickly.  He told his wife that I was looking for Hinoe, and she started to sob also.

 

“W-what did you need about Hinoe?”

 

“Uh… did she have a younger sister?  To the name of Ayumi. Ayumi Shinozaki.”

 

“No, Hinoe was our only child.”

 

“Is that so… I was wondering because my friend’s last name is Shinozaki, and the nameplate here read Shinozaki also, so I thought this was her house.  I’m sorry to disturb you at this hour.”

 

“No, it’s fine.”

 

“Oh, by any chance, may I see Hinoe?”

 

“...”

 

The wife started to cry, and the husband started to cry as well.

 

“Hinoe… passed away due to the recent events that happened.  She was gone for so long, but we found her at an abandoned house, decapitated under the rubble.  There was also something that Hinoe worked with, specifically charms and curses, nearby, so we think the curse that happened recently has something to do with it.”

 

“Oh, I’m sorry for your loss.”

 

“Thank you.  Be safe, young man.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

I left the gate to their house, and I started walking towards my apartment.  As expected, they didn’t know who Shinozaki was. I just had to check. Hinoe, her older sister, I heard that she was decapitated trying to save Shinozaki from a curse that she done. 

 

_ Well, even Shinozaki’s parents doesn’t remember her… I guess I’ll have to take her to my place when she wakes up.  I should clean up my place while I’m there today then. _

 

Yoshiki’s Apartment

 

I opened my apartment, and I entered the room.  I started to clean up the whole house, in case Shinozaki had to come here and rest for now.  

 

_ Well, I guess I have to find a new job, since the old places won’t remember me… _

 

After a while, the house seemed pretty clean, so I walked back out, and locked up the door.  I walked around in the streets for a while now, and without thinking, I was back at the hospital.

 

**Hospital - Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

“Uh, ma’am?”

 

“Yes? Oh, you are, Mr. Kishinuma, correct?”

 

“Yes, I heard about you not placing extra costs on the room that my friend borrowed, thank you.”

 

“No problem, I hope you and your friend feels better soon.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

The receptionist was really kind to me, and Shinozaki as a matter of fact.  I walked up the stairs to the second floor, and entered room #209. As expected, Shinozaki was still on the bed, sleeping.  At least I knew she was alive. 

 

“Shinozaki… don’t worry, everything will be okay.  Although, once you wake up, we have a long day ahead of us…”

 

And I fell asleep on the chair next to Shinozaki.

 

The Next Morning - Sunday

 

I woke up, and Shinozaki was still sleeping like I expected.  I looked at the time, and it was still early in the morning, so I decided to go get breakfast and look for available jobs.  I walked downstairs to the hospital diner, and I took an empty seat, and a waitress came, and handed me a menu. I quickly chose toast and coffee.  

 

“Here is your food.  Enjoy!”

 

“Thank you.”

 

I quickly ate the food, and I left enough money to pay for the quick meal.  I walked out, thinking of possible jobs. I decided to go to my old job and ask the manager there.  When I approached the store, there was a sign saying, ‘Now Hiring’. I walked in, and the manager walked out.

 

“Hello, young man, what can I help you with?”

 

_ He doesn’t remember me, oh well, I guess I have to start from the top… _

 

“My name is Yoshiki Kishinuma, and I saw that you were hiring, so I was here to ask you about the job.”

 

“Oh, is that so?  Follow me, I’ll ask you a couple questions.”

 

Manager’s Office

 

“So, Kishinuma-kun, why do you want to work at my store?”

 

“Well, I have a hobby in music, and I believe by working here, I can pursue my dream better.”

 

“Can you play any instruments?”

 

“Yes, I can play the guitar, and I can play other instruments like piano, although it isn’t as good as my guitar.”

 

“When are you free?”

 

“Weekdays after… 3pm, and on most weekends all day.”

 

_ I was free all day, but I couldn’t say that, he would’ve asked me about school or something. _

 

“One last question, Kishinuma-kun.  Are you asking for a part time job or a full time regular job?”

 

“Uhh…”

 

_ I didn’t know what to say, but I guess I’ll have to give a vague answer…  _

 

“Part time job for now, but if I like it here, I was planning to work here full time.”

 

“Sounds nice by me, can you start coming in tomorrow at 3pm?”

 

“Thank you, Mr…”

 

“Tanaka.”

 

“Thank you, Mr. Tanaka.”

 

“See you tomorrow, Kishinuma-kun.”

 

I exited the store, and thankfully, I was able to get the job fairly simply.  I walked back towards the hospital, when I saw… Satoshi, Nakashima, and Yuka-chan, coming down the road.

 

_ Oh, crap, what should I do?  I guess they won’t remember me, right?  Let’s just walk past them casually… _

 

I moved over to the right, and I walked past them.  I saw Satoshi look at me, and I heard him talk to Nakashima about it, but they just kept walking, so I think he doesn’t remember me.  I think.

 

**Streets - Satoshi’s PoV**

 

“So, Yuka-chan, did you have fun?”

 

“Yeah, onii-chan!  That was so fun!”

 

“Glad you enjoyed today, after… what happened.  How about you, Naomi?”

 

“It was pretty fun, thanks for taking me with you.”

 

“Of course, Naomi… Naomi…?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Well, I don’t know how to say this, but, well, will you be my… my girlfriend?”

 

What have I done?  Of course, I wanted to tell her this since forever, but why now?  Damnit, what have I done? 

 

“... Of course.”

 

“...?!”

 

“Of course I would want to be your girlfriend, Satoshi!”

 

And then, Naomi hugged me.  I was waiting forever for this moment.  Although I wanted to wait for a better time, but I guess it worked out.

 

“Should I go ahead?”

 

“Ah!  Yuka-chan!  It’s fine.”

 

_ I can’t believe I forgot Yuka-chan.  Oh well, the school will know about it on Thursday anyways, I guess it’s fine… _

 

“Want to go to the music store over there?  We can try out a few instruments if the manager is feeling nice today.”

 

“Want to, Yuka-chan?”

 

“Yeah!  I wanna try the piano!”

 

Chuckling, we made our way to the music store.  I heard they were hiring, so maybe I can get a part time job there.  On my way there, we saw him again. He was the guy from yesterday, from our school.  He looks fine, I wonder where the girl he was with went… He past us, and I turned to Naomi, who was looking at him also.   
  


“Naomi, he’s the guy from school yesterday, right?”

 

“Yeah, does he live nearby here?”

 

“Don’t know, maybe he’s in another grade at our school?  He did come out from our school yesterday.”

 

“Yeah, maybe… Hey, there’s the store, let’s go in!”

 

Inside the store

 

“Welcome.  How may I help you?”

 

“We want to try out some of these instruments, is that okay?”

 

“Sure, go ahead.  Call for me if you need any assistance.”

 

With that, the manager went inside.  We stayed outside, and tried out a various instruments.  I tested out the guitar, Naomi tested out the drums, and Yuka tested out the piano.  Of course, it was our first times, it wasn’t good, but it was fun.

 

“Um, excuse me?  May I ask you a question?”

 

The manager walked out with another uniform like his.

 

“Yes?”

 

“I saw you were hiring, so I was wondering if I could help.”

 

“Ah, there was already another young man near your age that asked, and I told him to start working tomorrow.  You may have saw him, he walked down the road where you came from.”

 

“Did he have blond hair and was tall?”

 

“Yeah, that’s him.”

 

“Oh, yeah, we did see him, so, I guess that’s a no, then?”

 

“Well, no.  He’s to come in tomorrow at 3pm, do you want to work the same shifts as him?”

 

“Sure, I don’t know him, but I’m sure we’ll be able to be good friends!”

 

“Hahaha, I like your spirit, young man, what’s your name?”

 

“Satoshi Mochida, Mr…”

 

“Tanaka.”

 

“Thank you, Mr. Tanaka.”

 

“No problem, don’t be late tomorrow!”

 

“Yes, sir.  Oh, by the way, what is the other guy’s name?”

 

“Ah, it’s Yoshiki Kishinuma.”

 

*Satoshi’s Memory*

 

“Yo Satoshi.”

 

*End of Memory*

 

_ What was that? _

 

“Ah, thank you.  See you tomorrow.”

 

I walked back to the group, and I told them I got a part time job here at 3pm tomorrow.  They looked at me surprised at first, and then seemed happy for me. They asked if I would be alone, and I said no, and another guy named Yoshiki Kishinuma would be here.  I asked them about Yoshiki Kishinuma, but they didn’t seem to know him.

 

_ What was that voice?  Must be getting tired from what happened, I guess… _

 

“Let’s go home, Naomi, Yuka.  It’s getting late.”

 

And we thanked the manager, and left to our houses.  I walked Naomi to her house, and returned to our house, ate dinner, and got ready for bed.

 

_ Yoshiki Kishinuma… I feel like I’ve heard him before… Oh well, I guess I’ll ask him tomorrow. _

 

And I fell asleep with that thought lingering in my mind.

  
  



	7. Confession

 

**At the Hospital - Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

Another day passed.  Luckily, I was able to get the job I had before this whole incident in a couple hours.  Shinozaki was still sleeping in the bed, and it still has been a couple days since the incident.  I really wished I could do something to help her get up, but I knew I couldn’t help, at least, not right now.  At least she was alive.

 

_ I should go get breakfast…  _

 

“I’ll be right back, Shinozaki. Sleep well, I’ll be here waiting for you.”

 

**??? - Ayumi’s PoV**

 

_ Where… am… I?  I can hear Kishinuma’s voice… why did you come back for me?  I’ve been so mean to you… and yet, you still came back for me… I’m sorry, Kishinuma, you’ve lost so much because of me… I want to wake up, but I can’t… not right now…  _

 

**Cafe in the hospital - Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

“May I have a breakfast meal combo?”

 

“Yes sir, please wait at this table.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

I sat down on the table the waiter pointed to. I couldn’t sleep too well last night, as I had a nightmare…

 

**Yoshiki’s Nightmare**

 

“Is that you, Shinozaki?”

 

“Kishinuma-kun!”

 

“Go get Yuka, and run!”

 

“Ok.”

 

I was fighting Yoshikazu, who was holding scissors, and I had to stall as long as I could, so Shinozaki and Yuka can run safely.

 

“Ahhhhh!”

 

“Kishinuma-kun?”

 

“Run, Shinozaki.  Get out of here.”

 

“Kishinuma-kun…”

 

“Whose sake do you think I came back for?”

 

“...?”

 

“Shinozaki… I lo-”

 

“Kishinuma-kun!”

 

“Run, Shinozaki, run!”

 

**Back to reality**

 

I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head, and with that, I woke up from the dream. I was still thinking about that dream still, until the waiter came back with the food. 

 

“Enjoy your meal, sir.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

I quickly ate the breakfast meal that the waiter provided me with.  After eating, I placed enough money to cover for the meal, and I walked back to Shinozaki’s room.  As expected, she was still sleeping, so I decided to go for a walk, and to the store a little bit early today.

 

**Music Store - Yoshiki PoV**

 

“Mr. Tanaka!”

 

“Oh, is that you, Kishinuma? You’re here early.”

 

“Yeah, I had nothing to do anyways.  I thought I could come earlier to learn what I need to do today.”

 

“That’s good, I like that attitude, Kishinuma, keep it up,” Mr. Tanaka states and proceeds to pat my back.

 

“Thank you, Mr. Tanaka.  What can I help you with?”

 

“Well, since you came in first, I can teach you how to work the cashier machine, that will be where you will spend most of your time.”

 

“Oh, okay.  I know how to work the machine, I’ve… worked somewhere else before coming here, and I operated the machine there,” I lied.

 

_ I can’t tell him I worked here before… _

 

“Ahh, you have experience? That’s good, then you can help Mochida when he comes in in half an hour.  Some other things you need to do is help customers, organize the store, clean the store before locking up, and occasionally carry boxes to storage when new stock comes.”

 

“Seems pretty simple, I think I’ll get a hang of it quickly,” I said chuckling.

 

“That’s good, I’m lucky to have a hard worker like you, Kishinuma.  Thanks.”

 

“It’s no problem, sir.”

 

I got to work on the cashier, while the manager went into the back of the store to do inventory.  He said when Satoshi came, he would leave the inventory to Satoshi and leave for the day. For about an hour, a couple customers walked in, and paid for whatever they chose, and not too long after, Satoshi walked in the store, while Nakashima and Yuka walked back towards wherever they came from.

 

“Excuse me, do you know-”

 

“In the back, taking inventory.”

 

“Wait, how did you know?”

 

“You’re Satoshi, right? The manager told me you’d be coming.”

 

“Ahh, you must be Yoshiki, then.  Nice to meet you.”

 

“Yeah, nice to meet you, too, although it’s not my first time meeting you…” I muttered the second part.

 

“What’s that?”

 

“Oh, nothing, the manager is through here.”

 

“Thanks, want to be friends?”

 

“Uhh, sure, I guess…”

 

“Cool, see you later.”

 

“Satoshi, still the same, huh…”

 

“Kishinuma, I’m heading out for today.  You can lock up after you and Mochida clean up the place at 7 pm today, we’re closing a bit earlier today.”

 

“Yes, sir.  Have a good day, see you tomorrow.”

 

“Oh, right, one more thing, I won’t be here everyday, when you come, you’ll just switch places with 2 students that work morning shifts.  You and Mochida are the night shift. I’ll only be in when there are special circumstances or your paydays.”

 

“Ahh, okay, have a good day, sir.”

 

“You too.  We usually close around 9 pm, but today, we will close earlier,” Mr. Tanaka stated before leaving the shop.”

 

_ Well, I guess I’m here for 4 more hours… At least I’m not alone… _

 

**Hospital - Ayumi’s PoV**

 

“Ugh… where… am… I?”

 

“Ah, Ms. Shinozaki, you’re awake.  You’re at a hospital, your boyfriend brought you here.”

 

“My… boyfriend?”

 

“He was worried about you, he asked me to check on you until he got back from work, which he should be in a while.”

 

“Who…?”

 

“His name is-” the door slides open, and the nurse finishes, “here he is.”

 

“Shinozaki?”

 

“...Kishinuma-kun?”

 

“You’re awake!”  he exclaimed, while I ran over and hugged Shinozaki.

 

“Kishinuma…” I said, holding back a couple tears.

 

“Well, I’ll go get a doctor.”

 

“Thank you for checking in on her, thank you.”

 

“No problem, don’t get too comfortable, the doctor will be here shortly,” the nurse said while exiting the room, giggling.

 

“...”

 

“Well, Shinozaki, it’s nice to see that you’re awake.”

 

“How long was I out for…?”

 

“Couple days.”

 

“Oh… Kishinuma…?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Why do you do this much for me?”

 

“Well, uh… because we’re friends.”

 

“I mean-” the door opened again, cutting me off.

 

“Hello, Ms. Shinozaki, how are you feeling right now?”

 

“Tired and hungry.”

 

“Heh, expected so, would you bring in dinner for Ms. Shinozaki here, Mr. Kishinuma?”

 

“Ahh, yes, I’ll grab something from the cafe,” he said while exiting the door, closing the door behind him.

 

“Well, you seem to be doing good, you should be able to leave tomorrow.”

 

“Thank you, doctor.”

 

“No, it’s fine.  Well, as much as I would love to chat for a little more, I have to go check on another patient.  Hope you feel better, Ms. Shinozaki.” 

 

“Thank you,” I said, and the doctor smiled at me, and left the room, while the nurse was tidying up my room.

 

“Well, I’ll be leaving, too.  I have to go put these sheets to be washed.  See you tomorrow morning, Ms. Shinozaki.” 

 

“Ahh, wait, how long was… was Kishinuma-kun here?”

 

“He was here the whole time you were unconscious, you’re lucky to have a boyfriend like him,” the nurse left giggling.

 

“Kishinuma-kun…”

 

**Cafe in the hospital - Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

_ I can’t believe Shinozaki’s waken up.  She said she can be released tomorrow, so I’ll go see that doctor tomorrow morning before leaving.  Finally, things are turning better for us… _

 

“Sir…? What do you want?”

 

“Ah, sorry.  May I have two sandwiches and two water bottles?”

 

“Yes, please wait a moment.”

 

I grabbed myself a tray nearby while I was waiting for my food, and when the food came out, I got the food, and paid for the sandwiches and water.  I put the food on the tray, and returned to Shinozaki’s room. I saw the nurse walk out a few seconds ago, so I assumed there was no one else in there, and I entered the room, “Hey, Shinozaki.  Here, I got you a sandwich and water, I thought you’d be hungry after… all that happened.”

 

“Kishinuma-kun… I’m sorry, and thank you…” Shinozaki said, while looking like she was going to cry.

 

“Shinozaki, don’t cry… Everything’s going to be alright… I’ll be here for you, I’ll help you through this.”

 

“*sniff* Okay… thanks, Kishinuma.”

 

“It’s nothing, here, take a sandwich and this bottle of water.  Eat up, we can go out tomorrow, to my place.”

 

“Kishinuma, I’m sorry for treating you so horribly in the past, I let myself judge you on your appearance too much… I’m sorry.”

 

“Shinozaki, it’s ok, I wasn’t… exactly the nicest also, I deserved it, don’t blame it on yourself. Nothing was your fault. No one blames you for everything that happened.  In fact, I’m pretty sure they will thank you for your sacrifice, you were brave in doing so,” I chuckled while trying to calm down Shinozaki. 

 

“...And… you, too.  You stayed in there with me, helped me, and got me out alive… I’m sure they will thank you also, if… they remembered us.”

 

“Yeah, but at least we got them out safe, and restored the memory of Yui sensei, Morishige, Suzumoto, and Shinohara.”

 

“Thanks for the sandwich and water.  I’m going to go to sleep, but what about you?”

 

“No problem, and I just sleep in this bed.  Good night, Shinozaki.”

 

“Good night, Kishinuma-kun.”

 

I turned off the lights, and layed on the bed for a while, in the silence.  I turned my body to look at Shinozaki, who seemed to be asleep. 

 

_ She’s so cute when she sleeps…  _

 

“Sweet dreams, Shinozaki.  I love you,” I say, and fall into sleep right after.

 

The next morning

 

“*Yawn*Shinozaki? You awake?”

 

“...”

 

“Still sleeping, huh?  Well, it’s still 7 am, I guess that’s still a bit early.  I’ll be right back, Shinozaki.”

 

“...Don’t… go…”

 

“...? Shinozaki? What’s wrong?”

 

“...” No response is heard from Shinozaki other than soft breathing and a slight movement in the bed.

 

“Heh, rest well, Shinozaki… We have a long day ahead of us.”  I sighed while exiting the room to talk to the doctor I met the first day.”

 

Doctor’s Office

 

“Come in!”

 

I entered the door, and was welcomed by the doctor: “Mr. Kishinuma! I heard your girlfriend woke up! Congratulations.”

 

I blushed at the doctor mentioning ‘girlfriend’.  “We… are just close friends… but yes, she did wake up, and you asked me to bring her to you, but she is sleeping, so…”

 

“I see, well, in that case, I guess I can go pay her a visit before releasing her from the hospital.”

 

“Ahh, ok.”

 

Hospital room

 

They both silently entered the room, causing Shinozaki to start wake up.  “Ki-Kishinuma-kun? What time is it?”

 

“It’s 7:15 Shinozaki, have a good night’s sleep?”

 

“Yeah, and… who are you…?”

 

“Excuse me, I am Dr. Nakamura, I was the doctor that treated you and your boy- close friend here.”

 

“Ahh, thank you…”

 

“Well, I’m here to evaluate you before you are released from the hospital, and I’ll be giving you a guideline so you can stay healthy outside our hospital.”

 

15 minutes later

 

“Well, you’re healthy enough to leave, but stay on the wheelchair for a couple days to regain your strength, drink plenty of water, and eat healthy and enough food, and you should be back to normal in about a week.”

 

“Thank you, Dr. Nakamura,” we both said simultaneously.

 

“Have a nice day, Mr. Kishinuma and Ms. Shinozaki.” The doctor left chuckling at the couple.

 

“So… I guess we can leave… Want to go back to my place, and talk things over before I go to work?”

 

“Sure,” Shinozaki replied, and got up, and with my help, sat on the wheelchair, and we left the room.

 

Hospital Reception

 

“Ma’am, thank you for your kindness to us.  If it wasn’t for you, we would’ve been in deep trouble.”

 

“No problem, I’m glad you two are fine. You two make a good couple, you know that, right?” The nurse said giggling with the other nurses nearby.

 

“Uhh… thank you.”  I reply while blushing, and I walk out the hospital with Shinozaki.

 

Outside the Hospital

 

“Well, Shinozaki, let’s go home… Oh, and here, the Book of Shadows.”

 

“How… did this get back?”

 

“Well, I brought it back, it started to say things that I thought will be helpful, so… sorry.”

 

“Oh, no, it’s fine, I was just wondering.”

 

“Want to eat something before we go back, Shinozaki?”

 

“Sure, how about the sandwich store right over there?”

 

“Sounds good.”. I confirm Shinozaki’s request, and I enter the store with Shinozaki. 

 

Sandwich Store

 

“Welcome! How may we help you?”

 

“May we have two breakfast meals?”

 

“Yes, wait for a moment, please.”

 

“The breakfast meal is fine with you, right, Shinozaki?”

 

“Yeah, it’s fine… Sorry for making you go through so much because of me…”

 

“Shinozaki, it’s fine… I’m doing this because I want to help you, and it was my choice to help you, so don’t blame yourself for everything, Shinozaki.”

 

“Kishinuma-kun… thank you.”

 

“Heh, it’s no big deal.” I chuckle while scratching the back of my neck. 

 

“Here are the two meals, enjoy!”

 

“Thank you.”

 

We both eat in silence, but we were both lost in thought. I was thinking about how to get the memory back to our friends like the Book of Shadows said. Shinozaki was obviously thinking about something, but who knows what she was thinking about. 

 

“So… everything ok, Shinozaki?”

 

“Hmm…? Oh, yeah, it’s fine.”

 

“...Well we’re done eating, so let’s go back, Shinozaki.”. I stand up, and pay for the two meals, and I walk out while pushing Shinozaki. 

 

“Yeah…”

 

I pushed Shinozaki for the rest of the walk to our house. It wasn’t too far from the hospital, so it was a pretty quick walk. I got to my apartment, and because my room was in the second floor, I had to carry Shinozaki and the wheelchair up the stairs. I let Shinozaki down on the wheelchair again, and opened my room, and let Shinozaki in.

 

“So, this is my room, feel free to make yourself at home.”

 

“Okay…” Shinozaki said, getting up and sitting on the couch. 

 

“Hey, the doctor said to stay on the wheelchair.”

 

“I’m fine, it was only for a bit…”

 

“Still… the doctor said…”

 

“You don’t have to be protective over me every moment, Kishinuma.”

 

“...Fine.”

 

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

 

“Ah, right. Well, first, as you expected, our existences were erased, so no one remembers us, but the Book of Shadows said something about how it wasn’t completely destroyed, so some trgger or something can have our memories back, at least to the few people that known us alot, like Satoshi, Nakashima, Yuka, Miki, your parents, people along those lines.”

 

“Ahh, that’s… nice to know, is that why you brought back the Book of Shadows?”

 

“Yeah…”

 

“Kishinuma, may I ask you something?”

 

“Uhh, sure, go ahead.”

 

“Why are you so nice to me even when I was mean to you? Why do you care so much about me when I always pushed you aside? Why did you come back for me? Why did you keep protecting me?”

 

“...”

 

_ I… Should I tell her my feelings…? I guess I have no other choice right now… _

 

“...Kishinuma-kun?”

 

“Well, since the day you saved me from getting expelled, remember that?”

 

“Yeah, kind of.”

 

“That day, I was going to punch Mr. Tsubota and drop out, I had no friends, I had no point in continuing, but you came, you believed in me, and even cried for my behalf. You motivated me since then to continue my education. I quit smoking, and I started to actually try in my education. The second year, you and the others accepted me into your group, regardless of my appearance. Since then, my life started to get better, and, well, I was thinking, and I concluded that you were the reason why I came this far, without you, I would’ve dropped out. So, since then, I promised myself to save you and protect you like you did to me that day. At Heavenly Host, I promised myself to get you out of that hellhole no matter what. So, what I’m trying to say is…”

 

“Kishinuma-kun…”

 

“Shinozaki, I love you.”


	8. Forgotten Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I forgot to mention, the story includes some OC’s: these are all minor characters who just helps my story function well, such as the music store owner, and the two who work morning shifts at the music store are my OC’s. None of my OC’s will have a major role in the plot, they will only have dialogue that pushes the story on, but will not have too big of an influence on the major storyline.

 

**Yoshiki’s Apartment - Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

“You… you what?” Shinozaki stuttered out.

 

“I love you, I have loved you since that day you spoke up for me against Mr. Tsubota.”

 

“For two years… you waited for me that long?”

 

“Yeah, pretty much… ha ha, I’m pathetic, aren’t I? I couldn’t even tell you my real feelings until all this shit happened.”

 

“No, you aren’t. You protected me and helped me even if I said so many mean things to you… How could I be so blind?” Shinozaki said, holding tears in her eyes.

 

“Shinozaki… don’t cry, I did all that because I love you, my love for you will never go away.”

 

“*sniff* I’m sorry! I’m sorry for saying mean things to you, for comparing you to Mochida, for being ignorant of your feelings!”

 

“Shh, Shinozaki, it’s all fine. All that matters now is that you’re safe.” I hug her while finishing my sentence.

 

“...Yoshiki, after all that happened and all you did for me, I think… I love you, too.”

 

I was taken aback from her suddenly using my personal name, but I quickly answered, “Ayumi, I love you, have loved you, and will love you, no matter what happens.”

 

_Is this really happening? Shinozaki said that she loves me! Finally, my feelings have been recognized, and it feels so damn good._

 

“Yoshiki… thank you, for everything.”

 

“It was nothing, really. Anything for you, Ayumi, is worth all the trouble.”

 

“You’re too kind, Yoshiki… I don’t know how I could’ve been so blind to your feelings, now that you tell me this, I can tell how you’ve always tried to get closer to me, but I pushed you away.  My crush on Mochida-kun hurt you so much, yet you still came back and protected me at the school, helped me outside that school, and was so kind to me, yet I was so mean to you. I don’t deserve you, Yoshiki, you deserve better, especially you lost… your friends and your existence… because of me.”

 

“Ayumi, it’s not your fault, it never was, and will never be.  Stop blaming yourself for this, only you blame yourself for this, when none of us blame you.  Be strong, that’s what Yui-sensei said, Suzumoto will never hold a grudge on you, you meant for the best, and will want you to continue living happily, Shinohara will be happy that you made it out alive, and Morishige, although he may not show it, he truly cares for his friends.  Everyone that didn’t make it back won’t blame you, but will be happy for you.”

 

“Yoshiki… do you truly think that?”

 

“Yes, I truly do.  Even the people that made it out alive, although they may not remember you, will be grateful to what you did.  I’m grateful that you are safe now, and we put that hellhole into an end, Mochida will be grateful to be back with Nakashima, Nakashima will be grateful to be back with Mochida, and Yuka will be grateful to be back with her best friend and Mochida, not to mention that those that are gone had their existences returned.”

 

“Yoshiki… Thank you.”

 

“No problem, Ayumi.  I’m sure everything will fall back into place sooner or later.  I’ll make sure that everyone will remember you once again.” I reassure Ayumi while hugging her.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“The Book of Shadows said that, although the chance is small, if we were to trigger something, it could bring back our existence to those that knew us.  I know how deeply you miss our friends, I’ll make sure you can meet them again.”

 

“Yoshiki, is that true?”

 

“Yes, Book of Shadows, care to elaborate?”  I state while softly shaking the Book of Shadows.

 

“Yes, master, he is correct. However, like he said, the chance of it happening is small, and may not happen at all.”  Ayumi, hearing this, looked down sadly.

 

“Hey, Ayumi, cheer up, we haven’t even tried this yet.  I’m sure it will work out fine, I’ll make sure of it myself.”

 

“Yoshiki, is there something I can do to help you?”

 

“No, Ayumi, everything’s fine. Everything will be okay.  I’ll fix everything for you, you need to rest.”

 

“Yoshiki…”

 

“Don’t worry, it will be fine.  If you really want to help, not today, you need to get some rest.”

 

“Okay…”

 

“Well, I guess I have to get going, I’ll tell you more about what happened while you were still in the hospital.”

 

“Where are you going?”

 

“To work, although the manager forgot about me, I managed to get the job again.  Oh, also, Satoshi works there, so it shouldn’t be too hard to reach them.”

 

“Ahh, that’s nice, when will you be back?”

 

“Around 9:30 pm, my shift ends at 10, and I need to do something before coming, but I promise I’ll be quick.”

 

“I’ll keep you to that promise, Yoshiki.” Ayumi said giggling.

 

“Yes, miss Shinozaki.” I chuckle.

 

_At least she doesn’t sound too down._

 

“Hehe, be safe, Yoshiki.  I… love you.” Ayumi says while fiddling her hands.

 

“Ayumi… do you… mean that?” I blush while scratching the back of my neck.

 

“Hehe, of course I do, after all you’ve done for me, that’s the least I can do, return your feelings.  And… I do actually love you, I have developed feelings for you after the first time we came out of Heavenly Host.”

 

“Heh, I… never expected this to happen, but, I love you too, Ayumi.”

 

“Be safe!”

 

“Yeah!”

 

I left my apartment and started to walk to work in a good mood.  I was so happy that Ayumi finally knows my love for her, and she even returned it.  Since that moment, I got more dedicated to help Ayumi, and place things back where they should all be.

 

Music Store 

 

I entered the store, to see two other people inside: one was right behind the counter and was operating the cash register.  He was pretty tall, but was shorter than me by a little bit. He had black hair, and was wearing glasses. The other guy was organizing discs, as well as other things on the shelves.  He was short, had light brown hair, and had light brown eyes. They seemed to notice me, so the shorter guy walked up to me, and asked:

 

“How may we help you, sir?

 

“Ah, I work the afternoon shift here along with my other friend who should be here soon.”  I told the short guy while going back to change into the uniform and check in.

 

“Oh, nice to meet you, my name is Ito, and his name is…”

 

“S’up, I’m Kato.”  The taller guy responded.

 

“Well, nice to meet y’all, my name’s Kishinuma, and my friend who works here is Mochida.”

 

“Yeah, nice to meet you, too.  Well, it’s three, so we’ll be heading out.  See you tomorrow.” The two say while heading back to the lounge and check out while undressing.

 

“Yeah, later, guys.”  I say while Satoshi barges into the shop.

 

“Crap, I’m not too late, am I?”  Satoshi pants out after he spots me in my uniform.

 

“Nah, I didn’t get here much earlier.”  I laugh. “Although I did meet the guys in morning shift.  They’re in the lounge if you want to meet them.”

 

“Alright.” Satoshi says while moving into the lounge.

 

**Satoshi’s house - Satoshi’s PoV**

 

“It’s nice of you to be over, Naomi.”  I say, blushing slightly.  


“No, thank you for inviting me.”  Naomi replies, blushing, too.

 

“Well, I was wondering, if you would like to eat dinner with me…”

 

“I’d love to, but, don’t you have work today?”

 

“...” I froze right after Naomi said that.  The time was 2: 52, and the store wasn’t exactly close to my place, so I was late.

 

“Oh, crap, I’m late!”

 

“Satoshi, late to your first day of work? You surely are becoming like-”

 

“Like who?”

 

“I… don’t know, it just popped up in my mind, and now, it’s gone.”

 

“...? Anyways, I’ll be going, I’ll take you out after, alright?”

 

“Yeah, I’ll be waiting.”

 

I ran to the store, wondering who Naomi was referring to, but I shook it off my mind and focused on getting to the store as soon as possible.  It was 3:02 when I reached the store, and I saw Yoshiki already dressed by the cash register, so I assumed he was early.

 

“Crap, I’m not late, am I?”  I spit out between my breaths.

 

“Nah, I didn’t get here much earlier.”  he laughs. “Although I did meet the guys in morning shift.  They’re in the lounge if you want to meet them.”

 

“Alright.” I reply, walking into the lounge to check in and change.

 

“Hey, are you Mochida?” a tall guy asks, and a shorter guy than him looks over.

 

“Probably, I mean, he is back here, and Kishinuma said he’d be here soon.”

 

“Nice to meet you, I’m Mochida, I work the afternoon shift with Yoshiki.”

 

“Ahh, I’m Ito,” the shorter guy responded.

 

“And I’m Kato.” the taller guy said.

 

“Nice to meet you guys.  See you guys tomorrow?” I ask the two.

 

“Sure, see ya.”  They say, and I hear them say the same to Yoshiki.  I quickly get changed to go to work, and I start to organize the shelves that wasn’t already done during the morning shift.

 

After 3 hours, 3 hours before closing 

 

“So, Satoshi, care to say why you were late?” Yoshiki asks me while we were on break.

 

“Uhh…” I blush.

 

“If you made any plans, the day ends at 9, so…” Yoshiki states.

 

“Oh, crap, I told my friend that I’d take her to dinner…” I say, regretting asking Naomi out to dinner.

 

“Heh, you know what, go take Nakashima on that dinner, I’ll cover for you today.” Yoshiki tells me.

 

“Really? Thanks, Yoshiki… Wait, how do you know Naomi?”  I question.

 

**Music store - Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

_Oh crap, what do I say? What do I say?_

 

“Uhh…” I manage to get out.

 

“...?” Satoshi looks at me with questioning eyes.

 

“I think I’ve seen you around, and I heard you call her that before.” I lie.

 

“Oh, okay…” he says, although I’m not sure if he believed me.

 

“Anyways, thanks, Yoshiki, I’ll pay you back another time.”

 

“Yeah!” I reply.  “Wait, Satoshi?”

 

“Hmm?” Satoshi says while changing?

 

“Do you want to come to my apartment in the weekend? Maybe we can learn more about each other.  I’ll tell you the address tomorrow.”

 

“Yeah, sure, why not.  See you, Yoshiki, thanks again for this.”

 

“It’s nothing.  Have fun.” I say while Satoshi checks out and leave.

 

After Satoshi leaves, I use the rest of the break that I have to message Ayumi:

 

“Hey, Ayumi, maybe getting our friends to remember us may not be too hard, I accidentally told Satoshi something about Nakashima, so he got confused, and I had to lie to him.  I hope he does come to my apartment this weekend, so he can meet you, and maybe, with us together, he can remember us. Talk to you later, Ayumi, love you.”

 

I was about to return to my spot on the job, but my phone went off, alerting me of a new message, and read Ayumi’s reply:

 

“I hope you’re right, Yoshiki, about it not being too hard. You should still be careful about what you say, though. They may think of it as weird, maybe even suspicious. Anyways, bringing Mochida this weekend may be a good idea, at least to try our plan, hopefully it goes well. Stay safe, Yoshiki, and see you later. Love you, too.”

 

I smiled at the reply. I was happy that Ayumi was finally with me. I told myself that I would protect her no matter what, and I intend to keep my word, so I knew I would help her with all my might. I put my phone in my pocket, and went back to work, happier than before.

 

3 hours later: Music Shop closing time 

 

_I think I finished everything, everything’s clean, no new boxes, I think I can quickly get what I need and go home._

 

I walk back into the lounge, and clean up the lounge before changing back into my regular attire. Afterwards, I check out, lock up the store, and leave.  I quickly go to the supermarket, and I buy food, water, and other necessities.

 

_I should take Ayumi to a clothing store tomorrow, she needs other clothes than mine to wear…_

 

Yoshiki’s Apartment

 

“I’m back!” I say while going into the kitchen to put the grocery bags.

 

“You’re back early.”

 

“Yeah, the store was clean and organized so I didn’t have to stay longer to clean up.  Satoshi said he asked Nakashima out to dinner without thinking about the store’s ending time, so he told me about it, but I said Nakashima’s name subconsciously, so I said I heard it before when I saw him.”

 

“Did he believe that?”

 

“Yeah, thankfully. Anyways, you must be starving, I’ll cook you dinner.”

 

“Thanks, Yoshiki. You think Satoshi and Naomi is together now?”

 

“Probably, although I won’t be surprised if Satoshi didn’t ask her out yet.”

 

“Yeah, Mochida-kun is so oblivious of Naomi’s feelings for him.”

 

“Is it fine talking about this, Ayumi?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I mean, you had a crush on Satoshi, so…”

 

“I did, but I realized that you were there every time I needed help, not Mochida-kun.”

 

“Heh, thanks. Anyways, I’m gonna go make dinner. I hope sushi rolls are fine.”

 

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

 

After 1 Hour 

 

“I’m finished, let’s eat, Ayumi.”

 

“Okay! Yoshiki, this is so good!”

 

“Thanks. I’m glad you enjoy it.” I say, scratching the back of my neck.

 

“No, thank you, Yoshiki, you’ve done so much for me, and still are.  I love you, Yoshiki.”

 

“I love you too, Ayumi.”  I reply, putting away the dishes. “Now, let’s sleep, Ayumi.  We have a long day tomorrow.”

 

“What are we doing, tomorrow?”

 

“Nothing much, we are just going to go shopping for some clothes, you can’t always be in my clothes.  Besides, if you want to go outside for air, you need some nice clothes that actually fit you. Unless you want to be in here until who knows when.” I chuckle.

 

“Yeah, I guess.”

 

“And, well, after shopping… do you… want to… go to lunch together?” I blush, scratching the back of my neck.  I don’t know why, but I always do this when I’m nervous.

 

“Hehe, are you asking me out on a date, Yoshiki? I would love to go to lunch after.”

 

“Ahh, that’s nice.” I relaxed after Ayumi agreed to the date. “Anyways, let’s go to sleep, Ayumi.”

 

“Yeah, I am a little tired.”

 

“After two days of sleeping non-stop? Damn.” I chuckle.

 

“Shut up.” I say while lightly punching his arm.

 

“Heh.  Good night, Ayumi.” I lay down on the bed next to Ayumi.”

 

“Good night, Yoshiki.”

 

**Satoshi’s House - Satoshi’s PoV**

 

_I wonder if Naomi’s still at my place.  I hope she is, Yoshiki gave me this chance to go out with Naomi._

 

“Naomi!”

 

“Big brother!”

 

“Yuka-chan, have you seen Naomi anywhere?”

 

“She was just upstairs - ah, here she is!”

 

“Naomi! You’re still here!”

 

“Of course I’m still here.  You got out of work early today.”

 

“Well, my shift partner said to go to dinner like I promised today.  Although he did tell me to think before making promises like these.”

 

“Your partner’s correct, Satoshi.  You left your partner on his own today.”

 

“Yeah, but I’m sure he can handle it fine today.  Want to go to dinner? I know a good place that opened up nearby our school.”

 

“Sure, let’s go!”

 

“Yuka-chan, I’ll be back soon, bye! Stay safe!”

 

“I will! Have fun on your date, big brother!”

 

We both blush after Yuka said that we were going on a date.  I guess, this is a date. Anyways, I walk with Naomi to the new restaurant that opened.  We entered, and we were seated soon afterwards.

 

“Wow, this place is pretty fancy, Satoshi.  How did you know a place like this?”

 

“Well, I saw it one day while I was walking down to the store down this road, and I thought that it would be a nice place to come with you, Naomi.” I blush while saying that.

 

“What do you two wish to have for drinks today?” The waitress asked us.

 

“Ahh, I’ll have water.”

 

“I’ll have water also.”

 

“Are you two ready for your orders?”

 

“Yes, I’ll have the dinner special with miso soup as a side.”

 

“And I’ll have the ramen special with tempura as a side.”

 

“Okay, your food and drinks will be served shortly.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“So, Naomi, there is something from work that confused me.  Remember the blond guy we passed by on the way to the store?”

 

“Yeah, his name is Yoshiki Kishinuma.  He invited me over this weekend to his place.  Does his name sound familiar?”

 

“Hmm… can’t say I do.  Why?”

 

“Well, he knew your name, at least your family name.  He said he heard us talking before.”

 

“Hmm… maybe… hey, wasn’t he the same guy that came out of our school a few days ago?”

 

“Now that you mention it, that did look like Yoshiki.”

 

“Yeah, he might go to our school, and that’s where he knows.”

 

“Yeah, that’s likely.  Anyways, I can ask him more tomorrow, or at Saturday.”

 

“Yeah, do that.  Anyways, thanks for taking me out for dinner today.”

 

“It’s fine, I always wanted to come here with you, and, well, I did say I would take you out to dinner today, so…”

 

“Yeah, but next time, don’t plan ahead of yourself, Satoshi.”

 

“Alright.”

 

“Here is the food and drinks you ordered.  Call any of us if you two need anything else.”  The waitress said while giving us our food.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“So, how is the food, Naomi?”

 

“It’s pretty good.  We should come here again.”

 

“Yeah, we should.  I’m glad you like this place.”

 

1 hour later 

 

“Man, I’m full.  The food was great, and the dessert was amazing.”

 

“Yeah, it was.  Let’s go, Satoshi, I’ll pay-”

 

“No, I’ll pay, today’s my treat, Naomi.  I insist.”

 

“But… fine.  Thanks, Satoshi.”

 

“No problem.  I’ll walk you home, Naomi.” I say after I pay for the meal.

 

“Okay.”  

 

We walked down the quiet road to Naomi’s house.  The night was very peaceful, no sounds that dared to disturb the quiet night.  Soon, we reached Naomi’s house.

 

“Thanks again for the dinner, Satoshi.”

 

“It’s nothing.  I’ll see you at school Thursday then, I guess.”

 

“Yeah.  See you, Satoshi.”

 

“See you.”  I say, and I walk back to my house, and shortly after, I enter my house.

 

“Big Brother!  Did you have fun on your date today?”

 

“It wasn’t a date, Yuka!” I say, blushing.

 

“Okay! Hehehe!”

 

“*Sigh* Anyways, Yuka, you know the day after tomorrow is the day of the funeral, right?”

 

“Yeah.  I can’t wait to see Satsuki at school again.”

 

“Yup, I can’t wait to see my friends also.”

 

_Wait, friends? The only other friend that survived Heavenly Host was Naomi.  Why did I say ‘friends’? Oh well._

 

“Well, Yuka, it is getting late, let’s go to sleep.”

 

“Okay! Sleep well, big brother!”

 

“You too, Yuka.”

 

We enter our rooms, and we go to sleep.  I was wondering why I felt like there was something, or perhaps, someone, missing.  But, I fell into sleep without giving too much thought on the matter.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for the late update, again. I have no excuses this time other than that I was reading too many fanfictions myself, and when I start reading one, I can’t stop till I read the end! Although some of the stories were discontinued, I promise you my story will never stop, and even if it isn’t that good, I’ll make sure I finish. Anyways, see you next chapter!


	9. The Date Before the Memorial

 

**Yoshiki’s Apartment - Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

“*Yawn* What time… is it?”  I check my phone that I left on the counter next to me.  “8:34… I guess I’ll get up, and get breakfast ready before we go shopping.”  

 

Ayumi was still sleeping next to me, so I quietly got out of bed, and went to the kitchen.  The last couple days were hectic. Out of all the things that happened, the one that surprised me the most was when Ayumi said she liked me as well.  After a while, I decided to make pancakes. I make the pancake mix, and I start to cook them when I heard Ayumi:

 

“Yoshiki? What are you doing?”

 

“Ahh, good morning, Ayumi, I’m just making breakfast before we go shopping, the funeral is… tomorrow.”

 

“*sniff* Y-Yeah, our friends… they’re dead… because of me.”

 

“Ayumi…”

 

“They’re dead because of that stupid charm I had them do!  Only if I didn’t trust the instructions from first glance, everyone would be alive, my sister would be alive, we wouldn’t even be in this predicament!”

 

“Ayumi, it’s not your fault! You couldn’t have known that the blog was wrong, you trusted the one who put up the blog, and it’s her fault for betraying you.  You meant for the best with the charm, right? Did you know that would happen?”

 

“...No”

 

“Did you want something like that to have happened?”

 

“No…”

 

“See? You have nothing to be blamed for, you only wanted to make another memory before Suzumoto left, you meant for the best.  You didn’t know that would happen, so no one blames you, but you. Please, stop blaming yourself, Ayumi. It hurts me that you’re going through this pain and I can’t do anything about it.”

 

“...Sorry, Yoshiki, you’re too good to me.”

 

“Ayumi, it’s fine, you don’t need to apologize, just promise me that you won’t blame yourself, that’s all I want.”

 

“I promise.”

 

“Good. Now, let’s eat so we can go on our first… date.” I say, and I blush.

 

“O-Okay.” Ayumi says also with a blush.

 

We both quickly ate the pancakes that I made, and got ready to leave.  We left around 9:34, which leaves me about 5 hours before we need to get back to my apartment and go to work.  We held hands, and walked to the mall. 

 

“Yoshiki, let’s go to that shop!”

 

“Alright.” I chuckle.

 

“Ooh, let’s get this!” Ayumi holds out a cute shirt and pants with cats and dogs.

 

“You want that?  It does look cute, I’m sure you’ll look… cute in it, not that… you won’t look cute in other clothes… uhh… nothing, never mind.” I stutter out blushing.

 

“Hehe, Yoshiki, thanks.  And yeah, I want this.”

 

“Alright, here, give it to me, let’s look for other clothes that you want.”

 

“Okay!”

 

I was glad that Ayumi sounded happy, at least for now.  That was all I wanted for today, for Ayumi to be happy. As long as Ayumi is happy, then I’m happy.  After shopping for another hour, Ayumi chose many shirts, pants, and other articles of clothing. At the end, we went to the cashier to pay for the clothes.

 

“The total will be 53,250 Yen.”

 

“Okay, here-”

 

“Yoshiki! Are you going to pay for the whole thing?”

 

“Of course, today’s my treat for you.”

 

“No, you don’t need to do this because of me, you’ve done so much for me already!”

 

“Ayumi, I insist, I can’t have the love of my life pay this much on the date I have planned.”

 

“O-Okay… thanks.”

 

“Here you go.”

 

“Thank you for your purchase, you two make a cute couple.” the cashier giggles.

 

“Heh, thanks.” I blush.

 

“...”

  
“Ayumi, cheer up, today’s for you, don’t be sad…”

 

“...”

 

“...I’m sorry, Ayumi, maybe… I shouldn’t have proposed this idea.”

 

“No, no, I’m enjoying this, but… I just feel bad and sorry, I’ve been so mean to you, but you are still kind to me.  I’m sorry for everything in the past.”

 

“Ayumi, it’s fine, don’t be sorry for the past, let’s just move on, and keep those… hurtful memories with us, but not dwell upon them.”

 

“...Thanks, Yoshiki.”

 

“It’s nothing, how about that pasta shop over there for lunch, Ayumi? How does that sound? I’m pretty hungry after all that shopping.”

 

“Yeah, that sounds nice, and this time, I’m paying, I don’t want you to pay for everything today.”

 

“...Fine, let’s go.”  I reluctantly agree with Ayumi.

 

_ Stubborn as always, Ayumi, but… that’s one reason why I like you, Ayumi, stay like this Ayumi, I like you most when you’re yourself. _

 

“Yoshiki?”

 

“Huh? What?”

 

“Hehe, lost in your thoughts, Yoshiki?  I was calling you for the last minute.” Ayumi giggled.

 

“I guess…”

 

“So, what were you thinking about?”

 

“N-Nothing!”

 

“Really?” Ayumi looked at me with a suspicious look.

 

“Y-Yeah, what should we eat?” I hastily change the topic.

 

“Hmm… this chicken alfredo pasta sounds nice to me.”

 

“Really? I was thinking that, too!” I chuckle.

 

“Well, I guess we are ready to order, then.  Excuse me?”

 

“Yes, are you ready to order?”

 

“Yes, we will have two chicken alfredo pasta.”

 

“Will that be it?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Please wait a moment until the food is done.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“So, Ayumi, do you think meeting Satoshi this weekend to try to get him to remember us be good?”

 

“Yeah, I think it would be a good start.  Hopefully things will turn out well.”

 

“Mhm, hopefully, it does.”

 

“Here is the food you ordered, enjoy!”

 

“Thank you!”

 

After the food arrived, we both ate in silence, without major talk.  The only times we talked while eating was only stuff like, ‘This is good,’ or ‘We should come back next time.’  By the time we finished eating, the time was 1 pm. 

 

“The food was good, let’s go, Ayumi.  Are you sure you want to pay?”

 

“Yeah, I insist.”

 

“Okay…”

 

“Here you go, here’s the money for the food.”

 

“Thank you, come back again!”

 

“Hey, Ayumi… we have about 1 hour until I need to go to work.  Want to quickly drop off the clothes and go to the park?”

 

“Sure, let’s go, Yoshiki!” Ayumi said, skipping ahead.

 

“Heh, Ayumi, wait up!”

 

I quickly caught up with Ayumi, and we started to walk to our apartment.  We walked hand in hand silently, just enjoying each other’s presence. I always dreamt of this moment, where Ayumi and I was alone, and was just enjoying the moment.  After we got to the apartment, we dropped off our bags inside, and we walked to the park, but we saw three people that we haven’t expected to see.

 

“Is that…?”

 

“Yeah, that’s Satoshi, Nakashima, and Yuka.  I guess they’re here before Satoshi has to go to work…”

 

“Want to go say hi-”

 

“Hey, Yoshiki!”

 

“Yo, Satoshi, what are you doing here?”

 

“Nothing much, just taking a small walk with Naomi and Yuka.  Who’s that with you?”

 

“Oh, she’s Ayumi, my girlfriend.”

 

“Shinozaki?”

 

“You know her?”

  
“No, I don’t think so, this is my first time seeing you.  I don’t know why, but that just popped up in my mind for some reason.  Maybe we met before?”

 

“...Yeah, we did… we met before… not sure if you remember.”

 

“Hey Satoshi, who are you talking to?”

 

“Yeah, big brother, did you make new friends?”

 

“Ah, Naomi, Yuka, this is Yoshiki, you know, my partner at work.”   
  


“Oh, nice to meet you, I’m Naomi Nakashima.”

 

“And I’m Yuka Mochida, Satoshi’s younger sister!”

 

“Nice to meet you two, I’m Yoshiki Kishinuma and this is Ayumi Shinozaki.”

 

“Yoshiki, do you think we should invite those two to our apartment for the weekend also?” Ayumi whispers to me.

  
“Hmm… that may save us a lot of time, and we can see all their responses.” I pondered and said.  “Say, Nakashima and Yuka-chan, do you two want to come to my apartment this weekend? Satoshi already said he was going to come, so do you want to join us?”

 

“Yoshiki, is it fine if we join you?”

 

“Of course, Satoshi.  Might as well tell you where my house is.  My apartment is straight down this road, and you’ll see a beat down apartment with two stories.  My room is on the second floor, and the number is 2-04. How does 10 am sound?”

 

“That’s fine with me and Yuka, but what about you, Naomi?”

 

“That should be fine.”

 

“Alright, that’s a date, then.”

 

After we set up the date of when we should meet, Nakashima called over Satoshi and Yuka, saying that they have to talk about something.  So, we split up, and we went to the bench nearby, and we were just enjoying the breeze until I had to go to work.

 

**Park - Satoshi’s PoV**

 

I didn’t expect to see Yoshiki come to the part, especially with a girl, hand in hand.  I wondered if they were in a relationship, but I decided not to ask, instead, I just called him over to the bench I sat watching Naomi and Yuka play.

 

“Yo, Satoshi, what are you doing here?” he asked me.

 

“Nothing much, just taking a small walk with Naomi and Yuka.  Who’s that with you?” I replied, then asked about the girl next to Yoshiki.

 

“Oh, she’s Ayumi, my girlfriend.” he answered.  So, there’s my question answered, they were indeed in a relationship.  Then, a name popped in my mind after Yoshiki said her name.

 

“Shinozaki?” 

 

“You know her?”

  
“No, I don’t think so, this is my first time seeing you.  I don’t know why, but that just popped up in my mind for some reason.  Maybe we met before?” I wondered how the name popped up in my mind.

 

“...Yeah, we did… we met before… not sure if you remember.” she said, and I was trying to think of when we met, maybe when we were younger? 

 

“Hey Satoshi, who are you talking to?” Naomi said, while walking with Yuka towards us.

 

“Yeah, big brother, did you make new friends?” 

 

“Ah, Naomi, Yuka, this is Yoshiki, you know, my partner at work.” I introduced Yoshiki to them.   
  


“Oh, nice to meet you, I’m Naomi Nakashima.”

 

“And I’m Yuka Mochida, Satoshi’s younger sister!”

 

“Nice to meet you two, I’m Yoshiki Kishinuma and this is Ayumi Shinozaki.” Yoshiki introduced himself and his girlf

 

They seemed to talk about something, when a memory popped up in my head.  Before I was able to talk about it, Yoshiki spoke up.

 

“Say, Nakashima and Yuka-chan, do you two want to come to my apartment this weekend? Satoshi already said he was going to come, so do you want to join us?”

 

“Yoshiki, is it fine if we join you?” I asked after he offered that.

 

“Of course, Satoshi.  Might as well tell you where my house is.  My apartment is straight down this road, and you’ll see a beat down apartment with two stories.  My room is on the second floor, and the number is 2-04. How does 10 am sound?” Yoshiki proposed after giving us the address to his residence.

 

“That’s fine with me and Yuka, but what about you, Naomi?” I asked Naomi.

 

“That should be fine.”

 

“Alright, that’s a date, then.” Yoshiki confirmed.

 

After he confirmed the date, I was about to ask Naomi and Yuka something, when apparently Naomi had the same thought.

 

“Hey, Satoshi, Yuka-chan, can we talk privately over there at the tree?”

 

“Uhh… okay, there’s still about 45 minutes before we should get going.” I replied, wondering what it was about.  I told Yoshiki we were going to talk about something, and walked with Yuka to the tree Naomi pointed at.

 

“Naomi, what is this about?”

 

“Well, I don’t know, it was weird, but after they said their names, a memory popped up in my mind.”

 

“You too? I had that too, it was weird.”

 

“Big brother, Yuka had a memory also.”

 

“Hmm… this is weird, hey, want to say what your memories were about?”

 

“Yeah, sure, I’ll say mine first.”

 

-Naomi’s Memory-

 

“Class rep, what’s wrong?”   
  


“Huh, oh, Nakashima-san, it’s nothing.”

 

“Is it about Kishinuma-kun again?”

 

“Huh…? How’d you know?”

 

“Oh, nothing, it’s just that he somehow just knows how to get you angry.”

 

“Yeah, he was tardy today, and to top things off, he didn’t even do his work that he was supposed to do.  And then, he gave some excuse of why he didn’t do it. I can’t believe him.”

 

“Haha, that sounds like Yoshiki alright.”

 

“Satoshi!”

 

“Mochida-kun!”

 

“Hey Naomi, hey Shinozaki.  Anyways, Shinozaki, don’t go too hard on Yoshiki, I can’t say too much because it’s about his personal life, but let’s just say, he doesn’t have that much time to work on school stuff.”

 

“Huh? Why?”

 

“Can’t say, if you want to know, then ask him yourself.”

 

“Okay, Mochida-kun.  Well, let’s go to lunch, guys.  Everyone’s waiting for us.”

 

-End of Naomi’s Memory-

 

“Hmm… according to your memory, it seems they were our friends before.  I wonder what happened. My memory goes like this:

 

-Satoshi’s Memory-

 

“Hey guys, do you guys want to go to the haunted house that the class next door is doing?”

 

“Sure!  Naomi, let’s go, if you get scared, Mochi can come save you!”

 

“Seiko…”

 

“Yeah, let’s go! Shige-nii, let’s go together!”

 

“Hmm…? Oh, sure, if you want to go, Mayu, I assume it’s fine, but shouldn’t someone stay back with the class rep?”

 

“I’ll stay, you guys go, I’m not that interested in those type of things anyway, I’m sure it won’t be that scary anyways.”

 

“Of course Kishinuma will stay if Shinozaki is.”  Seiko snickers.

 

“I-It’s nothing like that!” Yoshiki says flustered.

 

“Or are you scared, Yoshiki?”

 

“Am not! But hey, at least I won’t grab a girl’s chest when you get scared, Satoshi.”

 

Naomi and I blush.

 

“Yeah, Mochi sure likes to touch these!” Seiko says while squishing Naomi’s chest.

 

“S-Seiko!” Naomi tries to pry off Seiko.

 

“Enjoying the view, Satoshi?”

 

“N-No! Anyways, you coming or not, Yoshiki?”

 

“Nah, I’ll stay back, if more people come, it sure as hell will be busy, and someone ought to help Shinozaki.”

 

“Kishinuma-kun, I’ll be fine, just go.  I don’t like it when people go out of their way for me.”

 

“O-Okay, if you say so.  Guess I’m going then, let’s go, and hurry back.”

 

-End of Satoshi’s Memory-

 

“Huh, so they were in our class?  And… they were friends with… Seiko… *sniff*”

  
“Yeah, it seems like it.  But, I wonder what happened between us, why can’t we remember much about them, because if they were friends with us, we should… at least have more memories with them…”

 

“Yeah, it’s weird.  Yuka-chan, want to share what memory popped up for you?”

 

“Okay!”

 

-Yuka’s Memory-

 

“Big brother!”

 

“Yuka? Why are you here?”

 

“I came to drop off your umbrella!”

 

“Ah, thanks, Yuka.”

 

“Satoshi, you never told us you had a little sister!”

 

“Ehh?  I haven’t?”

 

“Nice to meet you all, I’m Yuka Mochida.  Thank you all for taking care of my big brother!”

 

“So cute!”

 

“Heh, Yuka, you sure love your big brother, don’t you?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Huh, Kishinuma-kun, you know her?”

 

“Yeah, I have been at Satoshi’s multiple times, that’s how we know each other.”

 

“Naomi, a new contestant for Mochi has arrived, is it fine to be so relaxed right now?”

 

“Seiko, I don’t know what you are talking about.”  Naomi says squishing Seiko’s face.

 

“Mmph!”

 

“Everyone, the time is late, let’s go home!”

 

“Ehh? Yui-sensei, shouldn’t we clean up this mess first?”

 

“Shinozaki, I thought we were supposed to do that before playing around.”

 

“But…”

  
“We can just do it tomorrow, it’s late already.  And, Suzumoto, it’s such a shame you have to leave.”   
  
“I-I’m going to miss all of you *sniff*.”

 

“Suzume, this school will not be the same without you.”

 

“You aren’t moving too far, right?  We’ll all visit you during break! I sure will have more scary stories to share by then!”

 

“You sure love those, don’t you?”

 

“You have a problem, Kishinuma-kun?”

 

“N-No…”

 

“You guys, thank you, I’m glad I met with you guys.”

 

“Mayu, stop crying.  Smile, let’s take one final photo with all of us together.”

 

“Count me in.”

 

“Me too!”

 

“Yeah, let’s all take a photo together!”

 

“3… 2… 1… Smile!”

 

“Morishige, send that to me!”

 

“Me too!”

 

“Okay, I’ll share it with all of you.”

 

“Now, everyone, let’s go home, the time is late!”

 

-End of Yuka’s Memory-

 

“Big brother, does this mean… they did… the charm with us?”

 

“I’m not sure, that was what happened right before we did the charm, but I don’t know.”

 

“This is confusing, but maybe going over on Saturday will clear out some of our questions.”

 

“Yeah, we sure will have a lot to ask on Saturday.”

 

“It’s strange, if they didn’t do the charm with us, then what were they doing there?  If they did, then why don’t we remember them?”

 

“Hmm… I don’t know.  Well, we should get going, I have to go to work soon, so I’ll walk you guys home before.”

 

“Alright, let’s go.”

 

“Yoshiki, we’ll be going, see you at work!”

  
“Yeah, we were going to go also, see you at work!”

 

**Third PoV**

 

After their quick ‘meeting’ at the park, the two groups went separate ways, and went to their respective homes.  Satoshi and Yuka walked Naomi home, and Satoshi dropped Yuka off at their house before going to work. Yoshiki and Ayumi walked to the apartment together, and they put away the clothing they bought before going to the park.  Yoshiki then left for work, and at work, both Satoshi and Yoshiki worked hard for the day, and at the end of the day, they cleaned up, and at 9:15, they parted ways to go home. Now, the five friends that got split up went to sleep, as there was a long day ahead of them tomorrow.


	10. The Memorial Day 1

 

**Yoshiki’s Apartment - Yoshiki’s PoV**

 

“*Yawn* 6:57… damn, already an hour before the memorial.  I guess we should get up to go to the memorial. Ayumi?”

 

“...Yeah?” Ayumi groggily responds.  

 

“We should get up for the memorial, it’s already 7.”

 

“Oh, okay.”

 

“I’ll be cooking breakfast, you can use the restroom to wash up and get ready for the memorial first.”

 

“Alright, thanks.”

 

“Don’t mention it.”

 

Ayumi went to the bathroom to get ready for the memorial.  I chose to make a quick breakfast, which was toast with bacon and eggs as I didn’t have too much time today.  After I finished cooking, I put the food on plates, and sat on the diner table, and I started to eat. Shortly after, Ayumi came out, and joined me for breakfast.  I quickly finished mine, and stated:

 

“Eat up, Ayumi, today will be a long day.  I’ll go get ready to go to the memorial now.”

 

“Alright, thanks for the breakfast Yoshiki.”

 

“It wasn’t that great, but no problem.”

 

“No, it tastes really good… do you remember that day?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Remember, in homeroom, we all cooked, and I messed up, and you fixed up the food?”

 

“Oh, yeah, I remember you said that your food smelled better than mine.”

 

“In reality, your food was really good, I guess… my pride didn’t allow me to accept it…”

 

“Ehh, it wasn’t that good, plus, not everyone is good at cooking, so it isn’t anything to sweat over, Ayumi.”

 

“Thanks, Yoshiki, you always know how to cheer me up.” Ayumi giggles.

 

“Heh, yeah, anyways, let’s get ready to go to the memorial.”

 

“Yeah, we should.”   
  


After breakfast, we both got our clothes that we bought yesterday for the memorial, and we got changed.  I was in a black dressing shirt and dressing pants, and got out long black socks to put on before putting on my dark brown dressing shoes.  Ayumi wore a black dress that went down to slightly above her ankles, and wore a black heel with about a couple inches above the ground. The time was around 7:34, and we decided to head out a little early.

 

“Shall we go, Ayumi? Not to mention, you look… pretty in the dress, not that you aren’t pretty in other outfits as well…”

 

“Thanks, Yoshiki, you look really handsome also.” Ayumi chuckles, as I always get nervous when I’m saying something like that.  I should seriously work on that.

 

We exited my apartments, and we started to walk towards Kisaragi Academy.  We both took the path we always used to take, as my apartment is pretty near Ayumi’s house, so we passed it while walking to the school.  Ayumi stopped, and looked at the house for a little bit, but soon joined me on our walk to the school. Soon, we arrived, and there were already people in clothing suited for funerals walking in.  We walked into the gym, and sat near the middle: Ayumi at the edge of the aisle and me right next to Ayumi. We sat in silence until we heard a familiar voice:

 

“Yoshiki!”

 

“Ahh, Satoshi, Nakashima, Yuka-chan, you guys are here also?”

 

“Of course, we lost… our friends here also… why are you guys here?  Did you guys… lose friends from what happened?”

 

“Uh… Yeah, you can say that.”  I looked over to Ayumi, who looked sad.  “Ayumi, it will be fine, everyone remembers them now, even if our existences were erased, I’d say it was a fair trade, 4 for 2, right?  I surely don’t regret staying behind with you to get the memories of our friends back. Plus, we can have our other friends remember us as early as this weekend.”

 

“*sniff* Yeah, thanks, Yoshiki… and, I’m sorry, for making you go through this much for me.”

 

“Shh… Ayumi, everything will be okay.”  I calmed Ayumi down, and looked over to Satoshi, who was helping Naomi through her troubles, which I could understand, she lost her best friend to that place, and even worse, she killed her due to the darkening. 

 

We all sat there for about 10 more minutes, waiting for all that was coming to come, and soon, the memorial started.  We all stood up as the principal, vice principal, the secretaries, and all the school staff walked up to the stage and sat down.  First, the principal walked up to the microphone, and started to talk:

 

“Hello everyone, and thank you for coming to the Kisaragi High memorial for those who have passed due to the passed events.  To start off, let’s give those that passed a minute of silence.” As the principal said this, he closed his eyes, and put his head down, as well as the rest of the staff, and those that came to visit.  After a minute, he started again:

 

“Thank you.  Now, I will start off by introducing our staff.  I am Ishikawa, the principal of the school, the vice principal is Mr. Kinoshita…” the principal started by introducing all the staff, starting from the vice principal and ending with the teachers.  After they all introduced themselves, they started the memorial service:

 

“Now, we will start our memorial service.  We have lost students of our very academy, we lost students of our very academy, and many were injured.  My fellow students, staff, family members, we have gone through a hard time.” The principal starts, and pauses while people start sniffing.  We notice many familiar people, parents of our passed friends: Seiko’s father as well as the three siblings, Mayu’s parents, and Morishige’s parents.  They were all crying, and supporting each other.

 

“We understand that it may be hard to move on with what that happened, but eventually, we all will have to move on.  But, for today, we will mourn for those that passed, and dedicate two full days to make their passing more pleasant. We will have many events today after today’s service, and tomorrow, we will start with another service, and do more events, and then, do a final service to help those move on.”  the principal plans out. 

 

“First, before the events, we will hold our service. May you all rise, and lower your heads, while I name all those who have passed in these events.” the principal states, to which everyone obeys.

 

The principal starts to name people that we don’t know, until in the middle of the list: “Seiko Shinohara, Sakutaro Morishige, Mayu Suzumoto, Yui Shishido, Hinoe Shinozaki, Kuon Niwa,...” and the principal continues the list until he finishes the list of those related to Kisaragi Academy. “Now, before the events, let’s give another moment of silence for those that passed, and you may name those that were close to you that passed.”

 

“Mayu-onee-chan…” Yuka says…

 

“Seiko…” Nakashima says…

 

“Yui-sensei, Kuon-sensei…” Satoshi says…

 

“Morishige…” I say…

 

“Hinoe…” Ayumi says… 

 

We all said our friend’s names, and to my surprise, the other three didn’t say anything of us knowing these people, but I decided not to say anything. After a minute, the principal once again spoke:

 

“Thank you, now we will do the events that we have decided to do to keep the memories of those that passed. There will be ‘stations’ where you can go and pick up supplies to keep your memories of them. You may write about them, draw them, or make things for them, and at the evening, around 10, we will fly lanterns with their names to help them pass along.  Tomorrow, we will have other events. Once again, thank you, and enjoy the rest of the events.” The principal walks off after finishing the last word. We all got up, and started to walk back outside, when we heard another voice:

 

“Yuka-chi!”

 

“Satsuki-chan! You’re here, too!”

 

“Of course I am!” Satsuki states, munching on potato chips. “Yuka-chi, who are those two talking to you your brother?”

 

“Oh, that’s Yoshiki-nii-chan and Ayumi-onee-chan.  Yoshiki-nii-chan works with big brother at his work, and Ayumi-onee-chan is Yoshiki-nii-chan’s girlfriend.”

 

“Oh, they look cute together, hehe.  They do seem familiar, though.”

 

“Right?  Me too, but I don’t know, say, Satsuki-chan, did a memory pop up of them when I said their names?”

 

“Huh…? No, why?”

 

“Oh… just asking…”

 

“Yuka-chi, let’s go draw!”

 

“Satsuki-chan! Wait up!” Yuka wailed as Satsuki dragged Yuka away.

 

“Hey, Satoshi, that girl named Satsuki is dragging Yuka-chan away, just so you know.”

 

“Huh? Oh, it’s fine, that’s Yuka’s best friend. So, what do you guys want to go do first?”

 

“Well… how about we do… that first?” Everyone looked over to where I was pointing to. 

 

“Really, Satoshi? Drawing, out of everything that’s possible?” I groaned. 

 

“Come on, it will be fun, Kishinuma-kun! I’m not that good as well…” Nakashima says, trying to persuade me. 

 

“...Fine, let’s go.” I say, giving in. 

 

We all go to the stand with paper, drawing pencils, erasers, and other material used for drawing, and we all picked up supplies, and was deciding where to sit down, in which many suggestions came about:

 

“How about our usual seat in the cafeteria?” Nakashima suggests. 

 

“What about our classroom, 2-9?” Ayumi then suggests. 

 

“How about the rooftop?” I suggest.

 

“Yeah, the rooftop’s pretty nice, want to go there?” Satoshi supports my suggestion. “I’m sure you two will like it.”

 

“Alright, let’s go.”

 

We all go inside the school building, and we all walked up the stairs to the rooftop.  When we reach the top, we open the door, and we walk through, but Satoshi stops at the door, with a blank expression on his face.  Naomi walks up to him and asks what happened, and then, Satoshi told me and Ayumi to go ahead, and that he’ll join shortly. I shrug, and sit down, while Satoshi and Nakashima goes to talk elsewhere.

 

**Satoshi’s House - Satoshi’s PoV**

 

“Satoshi, let’s go! We’ll be late!” Naomi says, trying to get me to go faster.

 

“Naomi, wait up, it’s not that easy to tie this tie, it just won’t tie properly.” I sigh, trying to tie my tie as fast as possible, but it always comes out lopsided, or not even tied properly.  I give it one more go, and it was finally looking decent. “Alright, I’m done, Yuka, are you ready?”

 

“Yeah! Let’s go big brother!”

 

“Alright, let’s go, Yuka, Naomi.”

 

“Finally.” Naomi says as we are leaving my house.  We walk to the gym, and it was 7:44 by the time we entered.  We were going to take a seat, when I saw a familiar face. “Yoshiki!”

 

“Ahh, Satoshi, Nakashima, Yuka-chan, you guys are here also?” he greets us.

 

“Of course, we lost… our friends… why are you guys here?  Did you guys… lose friends from what happened?” I respond, and ask them.

 

“Uh… Yeah, you can say that.” He responds, and then turns to Shinozaki and whispers something to her.  I was going to say something when Naomi starts to tear up, and I turn to Naomi. “Naomi, don’t cry, they all remember our friends now… I know you miss them, I miss them, too.  But… we should move on, for them, right?”

 

“*sniff* *cough* Yeah, Satoshi, we should… thanks.”

 

“No problem, the service should start soon, you alright?”

 

“Yeah, thanks.”  Naomi thanks me, and we all sit there for about 10 more minutes, until the principal steps up and starts the service.  He starts by thanking us, and asking us to stand up and give those who lost their lives a moment of silence, to which we all comply.  We sit back down, and introduces everyone on the staff, and proceeds to the memorial service as well as the timetable for today and tomorrow.  He then proceeds to calling out those that passed, and the list is thankfully not too long. He continues down the list, and near the middle, we hear our teachers and friends’ names.  He soon finishes, and asks us for another moment of silence, and to silently say the names that were close to us. Yuka says Suzumoto, Naomi says Shinohara, I say Yui and Kuon-sensei, Yoshiki says Morishige, and Shinozaki says Hinoe. 

 

_ How do they know our friends?  Why are our only memories of them only small fragments? Why- _

 

My thoughts were cut off by the principal announcing the end of the service, and the start of the activities.  The time was 10:04, so Yoshiki and I had about 4 and a half hours to go to work. We were deciding which activity to do, when I suggested drawing first.  Yoshiki groaned, but Naomi convinced him to do so, which he soon agreed to. While walking to the stand, Satsuki-chan dragged away Yuka, which Yoshiki told me of.  We soon decided to go to the roof out of the suggestions, so we were walking up to the roof. Once we entered, a memory popped in my head, making me stop. 

 

“Satoshi, what’s wrong?” Naomi asks me.

 

“Ah, can I talk to you for a second?”

 

“Sure…?”   
  
“Ok.  Yoshiki, I need to talk to Naomi for a second, wait for us, yeah?”  I tell him, to which he just shrugs to. We walk into the staircase, and I tell Naomi why I stopped:

 

“Another memory popped up.”

 

“Really? What is it?”

 

-Satoshi’s Memory-

 

“Hey Satoshi? You brought lunch today, right? Let’s eat on the roof.”

 

“Oh, sure, seems like a nice day for that. Let’s go!” And with that, we both went to the roof. When we entered, the clear sky surprised me: 

 

“Wow, the sky is clear as can be. Not a single cloud.”

 

“Love that autumn sun!”

 

“How about here?” I ask near the edge of the roof. “...I gotta say, though, my lunch box sure feels light…”

 

“...”

 

“What’d you bring today, Yoshiki?”

 

“I had some time, so I fried up a little something.”

 

“Man, your kitchen skills are really impressive! I’m guessing I’ve just got last night’s leftovers.”

 

“Sounds like first world problems, if you ask me!”

 

“You think so?” I say as I open up my lunch box, in which is money for bread. “Mom…!”

 

Kuon-sensei then walks up, asking if we are eating lunch up here, and soon asks what my favorite food to eat is, which I reply pork cutlet on rice.  I ask Yoshiki, “What’s she up to?”

 

“Haha.  She’s probably just messing with you.”

 

“*Sigh* Guess I’ll go buy bread at the cafeteria or something.”

 

“Okay.  But you should probably hurry it up.  I mean, lunch has already started, so I doubt they have a whole lot left at this point.”

 

“Oh, crap, you’re right!  Okay, wait right here, I’ll be right back!” And I run to the door leading to the staircase to go to the cafeteria.

 

-End of Satoshi’s Memory-

 

“Wow, that happened?”

 

“Yeah, I guess it did according to my memory.”

 

“Hmm, it sounds like you two were close friends.  Anyways, let’s go join them.”

 

“Yeah.” We walked back out and joined the other two in drawing our friends. I chose to draw both our teachers. After a couple hours of drawing, near noon, I finished my drawing. I noticed the other three finished as well, so I decided to break the silence:

 

“Hey, you guys done?”

 

“Yeah.” They all say, answering my question. 

 

“Want to share what we drew?”

 

“Sure, you go first, Satoshi.  You proposed the idea, so, we’ll give you the honors of starting.” Yoshiki tells me. 

 

“Huh…? Oh, okay...here’s mine, I drew Yui and Kuon-sensei.” I say showing them my drawing.

 

“Wow, Satoshi, good job.  I drew Seiko, how does she look?” Naomi compliments my drawing and proceeds to show us her drawing.

 

“Not bad, what did you draw, Yoshiki?”

 

“Hmm? Oh, I drew Morishige and Suzumoto.  Here.” Yoshiki holds up his drawing.

 

“Pretty good, Yoshiki.  Shinozaki, what about you?”

 

“Here, this is my drawing.” 

 

“This is really good Ayumi, you ought to be an illustrator or an artist or something one of these days.”

 

“Thanks… You know who this is, right?”

 

“Of course I do Ayumi, it’s Hinoe.” Yoshiki responds to Shinozaki’s question.  As I was about to join in on the conversation, the intercom came on and said:

 

“Thank you to everyone that stayed with us after the service.  We have free lunch being served at the cafeteria, so please make your way there for lunch.  Thank you.”

 

“Well, let’s go get lunch, and we can do something after.” Naomi suggests.

 

“Yeah, but Naomi, Yoshiki and I have to leave for work around 2:45.”   
  
“We probably have to go after lunch.  Nakashima, you’ll stay here with Ayumi, right?”

 

“Of course, Kishinuma, Shinozaki, that’s fine with you, right?”

 

“Mhm, that’s fine.”

 

“Great, thanks, Nakashima.  Now, let’s go get lunch!” Yoshiki exclaims as leaving to the cafeteria.

 

“Yeah!” We all say as we all leave the rooftop to go to get lunch at the cafeteria.  Once we went to the cafeteria, we all grabbed our food, and walked to the table we all sat during lunch.  For the next hour, we were just chatting, and before we knew it, it was time where Yoshiki and I had to head out to work.  

 

“Well, it’s been fun talking with you guys, but Satoshi and I should get going to work.  See you later, Nakashima, Ayumi.”

 

“Yeah, we’ll make it back around 9:15.  Be safe, you guys. See you.”

 

“Bye.” They both respond, and we walk out the cafeteria, out the school, and went down to work.  We arrived at work pretty early, so we met with the two guys working the morning shifts.

 

“Hey Kato, Ito.”

 

“Oh, hey Kishinuma, Mochida.  You two are early today.” Ito welcomes us back.

 

“Nice suits you two, were you guys at the Kisaragi Memorial?” Kato asks.

 

“Yeah, we came from there.  Are you guys going there after your shift?” I ask.

 

“Of course.  Hey, are you two going to go back after your shift?”

 

“Yeah, of course we are.” Yoshiki replies.

 

“Well, want to meet up there after you guys come back?”

 

“Oh, sure.  We can introduce you to our girlfriends.”

 

“Haha, both of you have girlfriends? Lucky you.  Anyways, you guys should get changed, your shift’s about to start.”

 

“Alright, thanks, Kato.  See you two later.” Yoshiki tells them.

 

“See you later, have fun at work.” Ito tells us as they leave.

 

“Well, let’s get started.” Yoshiki states.

 

6 hours later

 

“Man, that was a long day’s work!”

 

“Yeah, it was.  Let’s get all this cleaned up and go back to the memorial, Satoshi.  Can’t keep our friends waiting.”

 

“Yup.”

 

After cleaning up for 5 minutes, the shop looked clean, so we locked everything up, and left to the school again.  We arrived at school at 9:17, and we started to look around for our friends. We were going to go inside when we heard:

 

“Hey, Kishinuma, Satoshi!”

 

“Kato, Ito, hey guys!” Yoshiki greeted them.

 

“Finish cleaning and locking up the store?” Kato asks.

 

“Yup, we were going to go find our girlfriends, want to come along?” I reply and invite them to join our search.

 

“Yeah, sure.  Where should we look first?” Ito accepts and questions how we are going to search for the girls.

 

“Well, let’s search the roof first, because that was where we were first.” I suggest.

 

“Yeah, sure.  Lead the way.” Kato states.

 

We all walked up to the roof, and when we entered, we saw no one up there.  We then went to classroom 2-9, thinking they were there, which they weren’t.  We checked the cafeteria next, which we were also unsuccessful in finding them.  After searching around outside, we finally found them as well as Yuka and Satsuki-chan at a bench.

 

“Ayumi, Nakashima, Yuka-chan, Satsuki-chan!” Yoshiki calls out.

 

“Hey guys, you’re back!” Naomi responds, and asks, “Who are those two following you guys?”

 

“Oh, they work the morning shift at the job we work at. The taller guy is Kato, and the shorter guy is Ito.  Kato, Ito, this is Ayumi Shinozaki my girlfriend, and the one who asked who you are is Naomi Nakashima, Mochida’s girlfriend. The one with short hair is Yuka, Mochida’s younger sister, and the one with potato chips is Satsuki, Yuka’s best friend.” Yoshiki introduces everyone to each other. 

 

“Nice to meet you guys.”

 

“Nice to meet you two, too.”

 

As we were all chatting away, the time passed, and soon, it was time for the last event. The intercom once again came on and announced:

 

“It is now time for today’s final event. Please head to the gym to get as many lanterns as you wish, and once you finish decorating, you may set it to fly anytime, anywhere you want. Thank you for coming today, and tomorrow, the service will start at 8:00 like today. See you all tomorrow, and have a nice evening.”

 

“Well, let’s go get our lanterns, and how about we send it off at the roof?” Yoshiki suggests.

 

“Sounds good, let’s go.” I agree.

 

We all walked to the gym as a group, and on the way, we met Yuka and Satsuki-chan, so we all went to the gym together.  We then got the amount of lanterns we all desired: I got two, Naomi got 1, Shinozaki got 3, Yoshiki got 2, Kato got 1, Ito got 1, Yuka got 1, and Satsuki got 1.  We then went to the roof, and we all wrote the names, and sent off the lanterns. Afterwards, I asked the group:

 

“Who did you guys write on the lanterns? I wrote Yui and Kuon-sensei.”

 

“I wrote Seiko.” Naomi responds.

 

“I wrote Mayu-chan, Yui-sensei, and Hinoe.” Shinozaki follows.

 

“For mine, I wrote Yui-sensei and Morishige.” Yoshiki says soon after.

 

“I put Takahashi on mine; he passed when the strange pillar thing sprouted from the ground.” Kato replies.

 

“I put Yoshida for mine, she died due to a fire that was caused by the strange pillar.” Ito responds.

 

“I put all of big brother’s friends on the same paper!” Yuka states.

 

“I didn’t put anyone, I just did it because Yuka-chi did…” Satsuki-chan states as well.

 

“Well, it’s getting late, let’s go home guys, we have another day tomorrow.” Yoshiki says tiredly.  

 

“Yeah, see you guys later.” I respond.

 

“Bye guys.” Kato and Ito says as leaving.

 

“Well, see you tomorrow.” The girls reply.

 

A/N: So sorry for the late update, I have been busy because school’s starting soon.  I’m going into my senior year, so I may not update as frequently, but I will continue writing for my most favorite game/anime/manga series, and I will NEVER make any of my stories “discontinued”.  Thank you for reading this chapter, and sorry once again for the late update.


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